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sotjther:^^  life, 


SOCIAL,  POLITICAL,  AND  MILITARY. 


WRITTEN    FOR    THE    LONDON    TIMES, 

BY 

WILLIAM  HOWARD  RUSSELL,  LL.  D., 


SPECIAL   CORBKSPONDKNT. 


N-EW  YORK: 

(STJCOESSOR    TO   "VT.  A.  TOATXSEXD    &    CO.,) 

46  WALKER  STEEET. 
1861. 


^,  ;^ 


PICTURES  OF  SOUTHERN  LIFE. 


Charleston,  April  30,  1861  * 
Nothing  I  could  say  can  be  worth  one  fact  which  has  forced  itself 
upon  my  mind  in  reference  to  the  sentiments  which  prevail  among 
the  gentlemen  of  this  state.  I  have  been  among  them  for  several 
days.  I  have  visited  their  plantations ;  I  have  conversed  with  them 
freely  and  fully,  and  I  have  enjoyed  that  frank,  courteous,  and  graceful 
intercourse  which  constitutes  an  irresistible  charm  of  their  society. 
From  all  quarters  have  come  to  my  ears  the  echoes  of  the  same  voice  ; 
it  may  be  feigned,  but  there  is  no  discord  in  the  note,  and  it  sounds  in 
wonderful  strength  and  monotony  all  over  the  country.  Shades  of 
George  III.,  of  North,  of  Johnson,  of  all  who  contended  against  the 
great  rebellion  which  tore  these  colonies  from  England,  can  you  hear 
the  chorus  which  rings  through  the  state  of  j\Iarion,  Sumter,  and 
Pinckney,  and  not  clap  your  ghostly  hands  in  triumph  ?  That  voice 
says,  "  If  we  could  only  get  one  of  the  royal  race  of  England  to  rule 
over  us,  we  should  be  content."  Let  there  be  no  misconception  en 
this  point.  That  sentiment,  varied  in  a  hundred  ways,  has  been  re- 
peated to  me  over  and  over  again.  There  is  a  general  admission  that 
the  means  to  such  an  end  are  wanting,  and  that  the  desire  cannot  be 
gratified.  But  the  admiration  for  monarchical  institutions  on  the 
English  model,  for  privileged  classes,  and  for  a  landed  aristocracy  and 
gentry,  is  undisguised  and  apparently  genuine.  With  the  pride  of 
having  achieved  their  independence  is  mingled  in  the  South  Caro- 
linians' hearts  a  strange  regret  at  the  result  and  consequences,  and 
many  are  they  who  "  would  go  back  to-morrow  if  we  could."  An 
intense  affection  for  the  British  connection,  a  love  of  British  habits 
and  customs,  a  respect  for  British  sentiment,  law,  authority,  order, 
civilization,  and  literature,  pre-eminently  distinguish  the  inhabitants  of 
this  state,  who,  glorying  in  their  descent  from  ancient  families  on  the 
three  islands,  whose  fortunes  they  still  folloAv,  and  with  whose  members 

*  Mr.  Russell  wrote  one  letter  from  Charleston  previous  to  this,  but  it  is  occupied 
exclusively  with  a  description  of  the  appearance  of  Fort  Sumter  after  the  siege. 
His  "  Pictures  of  Southern  Life  "  properly  begin  at  the  date  above. 


4  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

they  maintain  not  unfrequently  familiar  relations,  regard  with  an  aver- 
sion of  which  it  is  impossible  to  give  an  idea  to  one  who  has  not  seen 
its  manifestations,  the  people  of  New  England  and  the  populations 
of  the  Northern  States,  whom  they  regard  as  tainted  beyond  cure  by 
the  venom  of  "  Puritanism."  Whatever  may  be  the  cause,  this  is  the 
fact  and  the  efiect.  "  The  state  of  South  Carolina  was,"  I  am  told, 
"founded  by  gentlemen."  It  was  not  established  by  wdtch-burning 
Puritans,  by  cruel  persecuting  fanatics,  wdio  implanted  in  the  North 
th®  standard  of  Torquemada,  and  breathed  into  the  nostrils  of  their 
n©wly-born  colonies  all  the  ferocity,  bloodthirstiness,  and  rabid  intol- 
erance of  the  Inquisition.  It  is  absolutely  astounding  to  a  stranger 
who  aims  at  the  preservation  of  a  decent  neutrality  to  mark  the  vio- 
lence of  these   opinions.     "  If  that  confounded  ship   had  sunk  with 

those Pilgrim  Fathers  on  board,"  says  one,  "  v^e  never  should 

have  been  driven  to  these  extremities !"  "  We  could  have  got  on  with 
the  fanatics  if  they  had  been  either  Christians  or  gentlemen,"  says 
another ;  "  for  in  the  first  case  they  would  have  acted  with  common 
charity,  and  in  the  second  they  would  have  fought  when  they  insulted 
us ;  but  there  are  neither  Christians  nor  gentlemen  among  them  !" 
"  Any  thing  on  the  earth  !"  exclaims  a  third,  "  any  form  of  government, 
any  tj^ranny  or  despotism  you  will ;  but "  — and  here  is  an  appeal  more 
terrible  than  the  adjuration  of  all  the  gods — ''  nothing  on  earth  shall 
ever  induce  us  to  submit  to  any  union  with  the  brutal,  bigoted  black- 
guards of  the  New  England  States,  who  neither  comprehend  nor  regard 
the  feelings  of  gentlemen !  Man,  woman,  and  child,  we'll  die  first." 
Imagine  these  and  an  infinite  variety  of  similar  sentiments  uttered  by 
courtly,  well-educated  men,  who  set  great  store  on  a  nice  observance 
of  the  usages  of  society,  and  who  are  only  moved  to  extreme  bitterness 
and  anger  when  they  speak  of  the  North,  and  you  will  fail  to  conceive 
the  intensity  of  the  dislike  of  the  South  Carolinians  for  the  free  states. 
There  are  national  antipathies  on  our  side  of  the  Atlantic  which  are 
tolerably  strong,  and  have  been  unfortunately  pertinacious  and  long- 
lived.  The  hatred  of  the  Italian  for  the  Tedesco,  of  the  Greek  for  the 
Turk,  of  the  Turk  for  tiae  Russ,  is  warm  and  fierce  enough  to  satisfy 
the  Prince  of  Darkness,  not  to  speak  of  a  few  little  pet  aversions  among 
allied  powers  and  the  atoms  of  composite  empires;  but  they  are  all  mere 
indifference  and  neutrality  of  feeling  compared  to  the  animosity  evinced 
by  the  "  gentry"  of  South  Carolina  for  the  "  rabble  of  the  North." 

The  contests  of  Cavalier  and  Roundhead,  of  Vendean  and  Repub- 
lican, even  of  Orangeman  and  Croppy,  have  been  elegant  joustings, 
regulated  by  the  finest  rules  of  chivalry,  compared  with  those  which 
North  and  South  will  carry  on  if  their  deeds  support  their  words. 


riCTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  5 

"  Immortal  hate,  the  study  of  revenge,"  will  actuate  every  blow,  and 
never  in  the  history  of  the  world,  perhaps,  will  go  forth  such  a  dreadful 
vce  victis  as  that  which  may  be  heard  before  the  fight  has  begun. 
There  is  nothing  in  all  the  dark  caves  of  human  passion  so  cruel  and 
deadly  as  the  hatred  the  South  Carolinians  profess  for  the  Yankees. 
That  hatred  has  been  swelling  for  years  till  it  is  the  very  life-blood  of 
the  state.  It  has  set  South  Carolina  to  work  steadily  to  orii;anize  her 
resources  for  the  struggle  which  she  intended  to  provoke  if  it  did  not 
come  in  the  course  of  time.  "  Incompatibility  of  temper"  would  have 
been  sufficient  ground  for  the  divorce,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  there  has 
been  a  deep-rooted  design,  conceived  in  some  men's  minds  thirty  years 
ago,  and  extended  gradually  year  after  year  to  others,  to  break  away 
from  the  Union  at  the  very  first  opportunity.  The  North  is  to  Soutli 
Carolina  a  corrupt  and  evil  thing,  to  which  for  long  years  she  has  been 
bound  by  burning  chains,  while  monopolists  and  manufacturers  fed  on 
her  tender  limbs.  She  has  been  bound  in  a  Maxentian  union  to  the 
object  she  loathes^  New  England  is  to  her  the  incarnation  of  moral 
and  political  wickedness  and  social  corruption.  It  is  the  source  of 
every  thing  which  South  Carolina  hates,  and  of  the  torrents  of  free 
thought  and  taxed  manufactures,  of  Abolitionism  and  of  Filibustering, 
which  have  flooded  the  land.  Believe  a  Southern  man  as  he  believes 
himself,  and  you  must  regard  New  England  and  the  kindred  states  as 
the  birthplace  of  impurity  of  mind  among  men  and  of  unchastitv  in 
women — the  home  of  Free  Love,  of  Fourierism,  of  Infidelity,  of  Abol- 
itionism, of  false  teachings  in  political  economy  and  in  social  life  ;  a 
land  saturated  with  the  drippings  of  rotten  philosophy,  with  the 
poisonous  infections  of  a  fanatic  press  ;  without  honor  or  modesty  ; 
whose  wisdom  is  paltry  cunning,  whose  valor  and  manhood  hdve  been 
swallowed  up  in  a  corrupt,  howling  demagogy,  and  in  the  marts  of  a 
dishonest  commerce.  It  is  the  merchants  of  New  York  who  fit  out 
ships  for  the  slave-trade,  and  carry  it  on  in  Yankee  shij^s.  It  is  the 
capital  of  the  North  which  supports,  and  it  is  Northern  men  who  con- 
coct and  execute,  the  filibustering  expeditions  which  have  brought  dis- 
credit on  the  slave-holding  states.  In  the  large  cities  people  arc 
corrupted  by  itinerant  and  ignorant  lecturers — in  the  towns  and  in 
the  country  by  an  unprincipled  press.  The  populations,  indeed,  know 
how  to  read  and  write,  but  they  don't  know  how  to  think,  and  they 
are  the  easy  victims  of  the  wretched  impostors  on  all  the  'ologies  and 
'isms  who  swarm  over  the  region,  and  subsist  by  lecturing  on  subjects 
which  the  innate  vices  of  mankind  induce  them  to  accept  with  eager- 
ness, while  they  assume  the  garb  of  philosophical  abstractions  to  cover 
their  nastiness,  in  deference  to  a  contemptible  and  universal  hypocrisy. 


O  PICTURES     OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

"  Who  fills  the  butchers'  shops  with  large  blue  flies?" 
Assuredly  the  2New  England  demon,  who  has  been  persecuting  the 
South  until  its  intolerable  cruelty  and  insolence  forced  her,  in  a  spasm 
of  agony,  to  rend  her  chains  asunder.  The  New  Englander  must  have 
something  to  persecute,  and  as  he  has  hunted  down  all  his  Indians, 
burnt  all  his  wdtches,  and  persecuted  all  his  opponents  to  the  death,  he 
invented  Abolitionism  as  the  sole  resource  left  to  him  for  the  gratifica- 
tion of  his  favorite  passion.  Next  to  this  motive  principle  is  his  desire 
to  make  money  dishonestly,  trickily,  meanly,  and  shabbily.  lie  has 
acted  on  it  in  all  his  relations  with  the  South,  and  has  cheated  and 
plundered  her  in  all  his  dealings  by  villainous  tariffs.  If  one  objects 
that  the  South  must  have  been  a  party  to  this,  because  her  boast  is 
that  her  statesmen  have  ruled  the  government  of  the  country,  you  are 
told  that  the  South  yielded  out  of  pure  good-nature.  Now,  however, 
she  will  have  free-trade,  and  will  open  the  coasting  trade  to  foreign 
nations,  and  shut  out  from  it  the  hated  Yankees,  who  so  long  monop- 
olized and  made  their  fortunes  by  it.  Under  all#he  varied  burdens 
and  miseries  to  which  she  was  subjected,  the  South  held  fast  to  her 
sheet-anchor.  South  Carolina  was  the  mooring- ground  in  which  it 
found  the  surest  hold.  The  doctrine  of  State  Rights  was  her  salvation, 
and  the  fiercer  the  storm  raged  against  her — the  more  stoutly  dema- 
gogy, immigrant  preponderance,  and  the  blasts  of  universal  sufi'rage 
bore  down  on  her,  threatening  to  sweep  away  the  vested  interests  of 
the  South  in  her  right  to  govern  the  states — the  greater  was  her  con- 
fidence and  the  more  resolutely  she  held  on  her  cable.  The  North 
attracted  "  hordes  of  ignorant  Germans  and  Irish,"  and  the  scum  of 
Europe,  while  the  South  repelled  them.  The  industry,  the  capital  of 
the  North  increased  with  enormous  rapidity,  under  the  influence  of 
cheap  labor  and  manufacturing  ingenuity  and  enterprise,  in  the  villages 
which  swelled  into  towns,  and  the  towns  wdiich  became  cities,  under 
the  unenvious  eye  of  the  South.  She,  on  the  contrary,  toiled  on  slowly, 
clearing  forests  and  draining  swamps  to  find  new  cotton-grounds  and 
rice-fields,  for  the  employment  of  her  only  industry  and  for  the  devel- 
opment of  her  only  capital — "  involuntary  labor."  The  tide  of  immi- 
gration waxed  stronger,  and  by  degrees  she  saw  the  districts  into  which 
she  claimed  the  right  to  introduce  that  capital  closed  against  her,  and 
occupied  by  free  labor.  The  doctrine  of  squatter  "  sovereignty,"  and 
the  force  of  hostile  tariffs,  which  placed  a  heavy  duty  on  the  very 
articles  which  the  South  most  required,  completed  the  measure  of 
injuries  to  which  she  was  subjected,  and  the  spirit  of  discontent  found 
vent  in  fiery  debate,  in  personal  insults,  and  in  acrimonious  speaking 
and  writing,  which  increased  in  intensity  in  proportion  as  the  Aboli- 


PICTURES     OP    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  7 

tion  movement,  and  the  contest  between  tlie  Federal  principle  and 
State  Eights  became  more  vehement.  I  am  desirous  of  showing  in  a 
few  words,  for  the  information  of  English  readers,  how  it  is  that  the 
Confederacy  which  Europe  knew  simply  as  a  political  entity  has  suc- 
ceeded in  dividing  itself.  The  slave  states  held  the  doctrine,  or  say 
they  did,  that  each  state  was  independent,  as  France  or  as  England,  but 
that  for  certain  purposes  they  chose  a  common  agent  to  deal  with 
foreign  nations,  and  to  impose  taxes  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the 
expenses  of  the  agency.  We,  it  appears,  talked  of  American  citizens 
when  there  were  no  such  beings  at  all.  There  were,  indeed,  citizens 
of  the  sovereign  state  of  South  Carolina,  or  of  Georgia  or  Florida,  who 
permitted  themselves  to  pass  under  that  designation,  but  it  was  merely 
as  a  matter  of  personal  convenience.  It  will  be  difficult  for  Europeans 
to  understand  this  doctrine,  as  nothing  ilke  it  has  been  heard  before, 
and  no  such  Confederation  of  sovereign  states  has  ever  existed  in  any 
country  in  the  world.  The  Northern  men  deny  that  it  existed  here, 
and  claim  for  the  Federal  Government  powers  not  compatible  with  such 
assumptions.  They  have  lived  for  the  Union,  they  served  it,  they 
labored  for  and  made  money  by  it.  A  man  as  a  New  York  man  was 
nothing — as  an  American  citizen  he  was  a  great  deal.  A  South  Caro- 
linian objected  to  lose  his  identity  in  any  description  which  included 
him  and  a  "  Yankee  clockmaker  "  in  the  same  category.  The  Union 
was  against  him  ;  he  remembered  that  he  came  from  a  race  of  English 
gentlemen  who  had  been  persecuted  by  the  representatives — for  he  will 
not  call  them  the  ancestors — of  the  Puritans  of  New  England,  and  he 
thought  that  they  were  animated  by  the  same  hostility  to  himself.  He 
was  proud  of  old  names,  and  he  felt  pleasure  in  tracing  his  connection 
with  old  families  in  the  old  country.  His  plantations  were  held  by  old 
charters,  or  had  been  in  the  hands  of  his  fathers  for  several  generations ; 
and  he  delighted  to  remember  that  when  the  Stuarts  were  banished 
from  their  throne  and  their  country,  the  burgesses  of  South  Carolina 
had  solemnly  elected  the  wandering  Charles  king  of  their  state,  and 
had  offered  him  an  asylum  and  a  kingdom.  The  philosophical  histo- 
rian may  exercise  his  ingenuity  in  conjecturing  what  would  have  been 
the  result  if  this  fugitive  had  carried  his  fortunes  to  Charleston. 

South  Carolina  contains  34,000  square  miles,  and  a  population  of 
720,000  inhabitants,  of  whom  385,000  are  black  slaves.  In  the  old 
rebellion  it  was  distracted  between  revolutionary  principles  and  the 
loyalist  predilections,  and  at  least  one  half  of  the  planters  were  faithful 
to  George  III.,  nor  did  they  yield  till  Washington  sent  an  army  to  sup- 
port their  antagonists,  and  drove  them  from  the  colony. 

In  my  next  letter  I  shall  give  a  brief  account  of  a  visit  to  some  of 


^J 


8  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

the  planters,  as  far  as  it  can  be  made  consistent  witli  the  obligations 
which  the  rites  and  rights  of  hospitalit)^  impose  on  the  guest  as  well  as 
upon  the  host.  These  gentlemen  are  well-bred,  courteous,  and  hospit- 
able. A  genuine  aristocracy,  they  have  time  to  cultivate  their  minds, 
to  apply  themselves  to  politics  and  the  guidance  of  public  aftairs. 
They  travel  and  read,  love  field-sports,  racing,  shooting,  hunting,  and 
fishing,  are  bold  horsemen,  and  good  shots.  But,  after  all,  their  state 
is  a  modern  Sparta — an  aristocracy  resting  on  a  helotry,  and  with  noth- 
ing else  to  rest  upon.  Although  they  profess  (and  I  believe,  indeed, 
sincerely)  to  hold  opinions  in  opposition  to  the  opening  of  the  slave- 
trade,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  the  clause  in  the  constitution  of  the 
Confederate  States  which  prohibited  the  importation  of  negroes  was 
especially  and  energetically  resisted  by  them,  because,  as  they  say,  it 
seemed  to  be  an  admission  that  slavery  was  in  itself  an  evil  and  a 
wrong.  Their  whole  system  rests  on  slavery,  and  as  such  they  defend 
it.  They  entertain  very  exaggerated  ideas  of  the  military  strength  of 
their  little  community,  although  one  may  do  full  justice  to  its  military 
spirit.  Out  of  their  whole  population  they  cannot  reckon  more  than 
60,000  adult  men  by  any  arithmetic,  and  as  there  are  nearly  30,000 
plantations  which  must  be,  according  to  law,  superintended  by  white 
men,  a  considerable  number  of  these  adults  cannot  be  spared  from  the 
state  for  service  in  the  open  field.  The  planters  boast  that  they  can 
raise  their  crops  without  any  inconvenience  by  the  labor  of  their 
negroes,  and  they  seem  confident  that  the  negroes  will  work  without 
superintendence.  But  the  experiment  is  rather  dangerous,  and  it  will 
only  be  tried  in  the  last  extremity. 


Savannah,  Ga.,  3Iay  1,  1861. 
It  is  said  that  "  fools  build  houses  for  wise  men  to  live  in."  Be  that 
true  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  "  Uncle  Sam"  has  built  strong  places  for 
his  enemies  to  occupy.  To  day  I  have  visited  Fort  Pulaski,  which  de- 
fends the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River  and  the  approaches  to  the  city. 
It  was  left  to  take  care  of  itself,  and  the  Georgians  quietly  stepped  into 
it,  and  have  been  busied  in  completing  its  defences,  so  that  it  is  now 
capable  of  stopping  a  fleet  ^^ry  eftectually.  Pulaski  was  a  Pole  who 
fell  in  the  defence  of  Savannah  against  the  British,  and  whose  memory 
is  perpetuated  in  the  name  of  the  fort,  which  is  now  under  the  Con- 
federate flag,  and  garrisoned  by  bitter  foes  of  the  United  States. 
Among  our  party  were  Commodore  Tatnall,  whose  name  will  be 
familiar  to  English  ears  in  connection  with  the  attack  on  the  Peiho 
Forts,  where  the  gallant  American  showed  the  world  that  "  blood  was 


PICTURES    OF    SOX^TIIERN   LIFE.  9 

thicker  than  water;"  Brigadier-General  Lawton,  in  command  of  liic 
forces  of  Georgia,  and  a  number  of  naval  and  military  officers,  of  whom 
many  had  belonged  to  the  United  States  regular  services.  It  was 
strange  to  look  at  such  a  man  as  the  commodore,  who,  for  forty-nine 
long  years,  had  served  under  the  stars  and  stripes,  quietly  preparing 
to  meet  his  old  comrades  and  friends,  if  needs  be,  in  the  battle-field — 
his  allegiance  to  the  country  and  to  the  flag  renounced,  his  long  service 
flung  away,  his  old  ties  and  connections  severed — and  all  this  in  defence 
of  the  sacred  right  of  rebellion  on  the  part  of  "  his  state."  He  is  not 
now,  nor  has  he  been  for  years,  a  slave-owner;  all  his  family  and  famil- 
iar associations  connect  him  with  the  North.  There  are  no  naval  sta- 
tions on  the  Southern  coasts  except  one  at  Pensacola,  and  he  knows 
almost  no  one  in  the  South.  He  has  no  fortune  whatever,  his  fleet 
consists  of  two  small  river  or  coasting  steamers,  without  guns,  and  as 
he  said,  in  talking  over  the  resources  of  the  South,  "  My  bones  will  be 
bleached  many  a  long  year  before  the  Confederate  States  can  hope  to 
have  a  navy."  "State  Rights'."  Tons  the  question  is  simply  inex- 
plicable or  absurd.  And  yet  thousands  of  Americans  sacrifice  all  for  it. 
The  river  at  Savannah  is  broad  as  the  Thames  at  Gravesend,  and  resem- 
bles that  stream  very  much  in  the  color  of  its  waters  and  the  level  nature 
of  its  shores.  Rice-fields  bound  it  on  either  side,  as  far  down  as  the 
influence  of  the  fresh  water  extends,  and  the  eye  wanders  over  a  flat 
expanse  of  mud  and  water,  and  green  oziers  and  rushes,  till  its  search 
is  arrested  on  the  horizon  by  the  unfailing  line  of  forest.  In  the  fields 
here  and  there,  are  the  whitewashed,  square,  wooden  huts  in  which  the 
slaves  dwell,  looking  very  like  the  beginnings  of  the  camp  in  the 
Crimea.  At  one  point  a  small  fort,  covering  a  creek,  by  which  gun- 
boats could  get  up  behind  Savannah,  displayed  its  "  garrison"  on  the 
walls,  and  lowere<:l  its  flag  to  salute  the  small  blue  ensign  at  the  fore, 
which  proclaimed  the  presence  of  the  commodore  of  the  naval  forces 
of  Georgia  on  board  our  steamer-  The  guns  on  the  parapet  were 
mostly  field-pieces,  mounted  on  frameworks  of  wood  instead  of  regular 
carriages.  There  is  no  mistake  about  the  spirit  of  these  people.  They 
seize  upon  every  spot  of  vantage  ground  and  prepare  it  for  defence. 
There  were  very  few  ships  in  the  river;  the  yacht  Camilla,  better 
known  as  the  America,  the  property  of  Captain  Deasy,  and  several 
others  of  those  few  sailing  under  British  colors,  for  most  of  the  cotton 
ships  are  gone.  After  steaming  down  the  river  about  twelve  miles  the 
sea  opened  out  to  the  sight,  and  on  a  long  marshy,  narrow  island  near 
the  bar,  which  was  marked  by  the  yellow  surf.  Fort  Pulaski  threw  out 
the  Confederate  flag  to  the  air  of  the  Georgian  1st  of  May.  The  water 
was  too  shallow  to  permit  the  steamer  to  go  up  to  the  jetty,  and  the 
1* 


10  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

party  landed  at  the  wharf  in  boats.  A  guard  was  on  duty  at  the  land- 
ing— tall,  stout  young  fellows,  in  various  uniforms,  or  in  rude  mufti,  in 
which  the  Garibaldian  red  shirt,  and  felt  slouched  hats  predominated. 
They  w^ere  armed  with  smooth-bore  muskets  (date  1851),  quite  new, 
and  their  bayonets,  barrels,  and  locks,  were  bright  and  clean.  The 
officer  on  duty  was  dressed  in  the  blue  frock-coat,  dear  to  the  Lritish 
linesman  in  days  gone  by,  with  brass  buttons,  emblazoned  with  the 
arms  of  the  state,  a  red  silk  sash,  and  glazed  kepi,  and  straw-colored 
gauntlets.  Several  wooden  huts,  with  flower-gardens  in  front,  were  oc- 
cupied by  the  officers  of  the  garrison  ;  others  were  used  as  hospitals, 
and  were  full  of  men  suffering  from  measles  of  a  mild  type.  A  few 
minutes'  walk  led  us  to  the  fort,  which  is  an  irregular  pentagon,  with 
the  base  line  or  curtain  face  inlands,  and  the  other  faces  casemated 
and  bearing  on  the  approaches.  The  curtain,  which  is  simply  crenel- 
lated, is  covered  by  a  redan  surrounded  by  a  deep  ditch,  inside  the 
parapet  of  which  arc  granite  platforms  ready  for  the  reception  of  guns. 
The  parapet  is  thick,  and  the  scarp  and  counterscarp  are  faced  with 
solid  masonr3^  A  drawbridge  affords  access  to  the  interior  of  the 
redan,  whence  the  gate  of  the  fort  is  approached  across  a  deep  and 
broad  moat,  which  is  crossed  by  another  drawbridge.  As  the  com- 
modore entered  the  redan,  the  guns  of  the  fort  broke  out  into  a  long 
salute,  and  the  band  at  the  gate  struck  up  almost  as  noisy  a  welcome. 
Inside,  the  parade  presented  a  scene  of  life  and  animation  very  unlike 
the  silence  of  the  city  we  had  left.  Men  were  busy  clearing  out  the 
casemates,  rolling  away  stores  and  casks  of  ammunition  and  provisions, 
others  were  at  work  at  the  gin  and  shears,  others  building  sand-bag 
traverses  to  guard  the  magazine  doors,  as  though  expecting  an  imme- 
diate attack.  Many  officers  were  strolling  under  the  shade  of  an  open 
gallery  at  the  side  of  the  curtain  which  contained  their  quarters  in  the 
lofty  bomb-proof  casemates.  Some  of  them  had  seen  service  in 
Mexican  or  border  warfare;  some  had  travelled  over  Italian  and 
Crimean  battle-fields ;  others  were  West  Point  graduates  of  the  regular 
army,  others  young  planters,  clerks,  or  civilians,  who  rushed  with 
ardor  into  the  first  Georgian  regiment.  The  garrison  of  the  fort  is 
some  650  men,  and  fully  that  number  were  in  and  about  the  work,  their 
tents  being  pitched  inside  the  redan,  or  on  the  terreplein  of  the  para- 
pets. The  walls  are  exceedingly  solid,  and  well  built  of  gray  brick, 
strong  as  iron,  and  upward  of  six  feet  in  thickness,  the  casemates  and 
bomb-proofs  being  lofty,  airy,  and  capacious  as  any  I  have  ever 
seen,  though  there  is  not  quite  depth  enough  between  the  walls  at  the 
salient  and  the  gun-carriages.  The  work  is  intended  for  128  guns,  of 
which  about  one  fourth  are  mounted  on  the  casemates.     They  are  long 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  11 

32's,  with  a  few  42's  and  coliimbiads.  The  armaments  will  be  excced- 
mgly  heavy  when  all  the  guns  are  mounted,  and  they  are  fast  getting 
the  ten-inch  columbiads  into  position  en  barbette.  Every  thing  which 
could  be  required,  except  mortars,  was  in  abundance — the  platform? 
and  gun-carriages  are  solid  and  well  made,  the  embrasures  of  the  case- 
mates are  admirably  constructed,  and  the  ventilation  of  the  bomb-proof 
carefully  provided  for.  There  are  three  furnaces  for  heatino-  redhot 
shot.  Nor  is  discipline  neglected,  and  the  officers  with  whom  I  went 
round  the  works  were  as  sharp  in  tone  and  manner  to  their  men  as 
volunteers  well  could  be,  though  the  latter  often  are  enlisted  for  only 
three  years  by  the  state  of  Georgia.  An  excellent  lunch  was  spread 
in  the  casemated  bomb-proof  which  served  as  the  colonel's  quarter,  and 
before  sunset  the  party  were  steaming  toward  Savannah  through  a  tide- 
Avay  full  of  leaping  sturgeon  and  porpoises,  leaving  the  garrison  intent 
on  the  approach  of  a  large  ship,  which  had  her  sails  aback  off  the  bar, 
and  hoisted  the  stars  and  stripes,  but  which  turned  out  to  be  nothino- 
more  formidable  than  a  Liverpool  cotton  ship.  Tt  will  take  some  hard 
blows  before  Georgia  is  driven  to  let  go  her  grip  of  Fort  Pulaski.  The 
channel  is  very  narrow,  and  passes  close  to  the  guns  of  the  fort.  The 
means  of  completing  the  armament  have  been  furnished  by  the  store? 
of  Norfolk  Navy- Yard,  where  between  VOO  and  800  guns  have  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  Confederates ;  and,  if  there  are  no  columbiads 
among  them,  the  Merrimac  and  other  ships,  which  have  been  raised,  as 
we  hear,  with  guns  uninjured,  will  yield  up  their  Dahlgrens  to  turn 
their  muzzles  against  their  old  masters. 

Mat/  2. — May  Day  was  so  well  kept  yesterday  that  the  exhausted 
editors  cannot  "  bring  out"'  their  papers,  and  consequently  there  is  no 
news ;  but  there  is,  nevertheless,  much  to  be  said  concerning  "  our 
President's"  message,  and  there  is  a  suddenness  of  admiration  for  pacfic 
tendencies  which  can  with  difficulty  be  accounted  for,  unless  the  news 
from  the  North  these  last  few  days  has  something  to  do  with  it.  Not 
a  word  now  about  an  instant  march  on  Washington  !  no  more  threats 
to  seize  Faneuil  Hall  !  The  Georgians  are  by  no  means  so  keen  as  the 
CaroHnians  on  their  border — nay,  they  are  not  so  belligerent  to-day  as 
they  were  a  week  ago.  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis's  message  is  praised  for  its 
"moderation"  and  for  other  qualities  which  were  by  no  means  in  such 
favor  while  the  Sumter  fever  was  at  its  height.  Men  look  grave  and 
talk  about  the  interference  of  England  and  France,  which  "  cannot  al- 
low this  thing  to  go  on."  But  the  change  which  has  come  over  them 
is  unmistakable,  and  the  best  men  begin  to  look  grave.  As  for  me,  I 
must  prepare  to  open  my  lines  of  retreat — my  communications  are  in 
danger. 


12  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

MONTGOSrERY,  CAPITAL  OF   THE   COXFEDERATE   STATES   OF   AMERICA, 

May  8,  1861. 
In  my  last  letter  I  gave  an  account  of  such  matters  as  passed  under 
my  notice  on  my  way  to  this  city,  which  I  reached,  as  you  are  aware, 
on  the  night  of  Saturday,  May  4.  I  am  on  difficult  ground,  the  land 
is  on  fire,  the  earth  is  shaking  with  the  tramp  of  armed  men,  and  the 
very  air  is  hot  with  passion.  My  communications  are  cut  off,  or  are  at 
best  accidental,  and  in  order  to  reopen  them  I  must  get  further  away 
from  them,  paradoxical  as  the  statement  may  appear  to  be.  It  is  im- 
possible to  know  what  is  going  on  in  the  North,  and  it  is  almost  the 
same  to  learn  what  is  doing  in  the  South  out  of  eye-shot ;  it  is  useless 
to  inquire  what  news  is  sent  to  you  to  England.  Events  hurry  on  with 
tremendous  rapidity,  and  even  the  lightning  lags  behind  them.  The 
people  of  the  South  at  last  are  aware  that  the  "Yankees"  are  preparing 
to  support  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  that  the  Secession 
can  only  be  maintained  by  victory  in  the  field.  There  has  been  a  change 
in  their  war  policy.  They  now  aver  that  "  they  only  w^ant  to  be  left 
alone,"  and  they  declare  that  they  do  not  intend  to  take  Washington, 
and  that  it  was  merely  as  a  feint  they  spoke  about  it.  The  fact  i^*,  there 
are  even  in  the  compact  and  united  South  men  of  moderate  and  men 
of  extreme  views,  and  the  general  tone  of  the  whole  is  regulated  by  the 
preponderance  of  one  or  other  at  the  moment.  I  have  no  doubt  on  my 
mind  that  the  government  here  intended  to  attack  and  occupy  Wash- 
ington— not  the  least  that  they  had  it  much  at  heart  to  reduce  Fort 
Pickens  as  soon  as  possible.  Now  some  of  their  friends  say  that  it  will 
be  a  mere  matter  of  convenience  whether  they  attack  Washington  or 
not,  and  that,  as  for  Fort  Pickens,  they  will  certainly  let  it  alone,  at  all 
events  for  the  present,  inasmuch  as  the  menacing  attitude  of  General 
Bragg  obliges  the  enemy  to  keep  a  squadron  of  their  best  ships  there 
and  to  retain  a  force  of  regulars  they  can  ill  spare  in  a  position  where 
they  must  soon  lose  enormously  from  diseases  incidental  to  the  climate. 
They  have  discovered,  too,  that  the  position  is  of  little  value  so  long  as 
the  United  States  hold  Tortugas  and  Key  West.  But  the  Confederates 
are  preparing  for  the-  conflict,  and  when  they  have  organized  their 
forces,  they  will  make,  I  am  satisfied,  a  very  resolute  advance  all  along 
the  line.  They  are  at  present  strong  enough,  they  suppose,  in  their 
domestic  resources,  and  in  the  difficulties  presented  to  a  hostile  force 
by  the  nature  of  the  country,  to  bid  defiance  to  invasion,  or,  at  all  events, 
to  inflict  a  very  severe  chastisement  on  the  invaders,  and  their  excited 
manner  of  speech  so  acts  upon  their  minds  thnt  they  be2;in  to  think 
they  can  defy,  not  merely  the  United  States,  but  the  world.  Thus 
it  is  that  they  declare  they  never  can  be  conquered,  that  they  will 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  13 

die,  to  a  man,  woman,  and  child,  first,  and  that  if  50,000,  or  any  num- 
ber of  thousands  of  black  republicans  get  100  miles  into  Virginia,  not 
one  man  of  them  shall  ever  get  out  alive.     Behind  all  this  talk,  how- 
ever, there  is  immense  energy,  great  resolution,  and  fixed  principles  of 
action.     Their  strategy  consists  in  keeping  quiet  till  they  have  their 
troops  well  in  hand,  in  such  numbers  and  discipline  as  shall  give  them 
fair  grounds  for  expecting  success  in  any  campaign  with  the  United 
States  troops.     They  are  preparing  with  vigor  to  render  the  descent  of 
the  Mississippi  impossible,  by  'erecting  batteries  on  the  commanding 
levees,  or  embankments  which  hem  in  its  waters  for  upwards  of  800 
miles   of  bank,  and  they  are   occupying,   as  far  as  they  can,   all   the 
strategical  points  of  attack  or  defence  within  their  borders.      When 
every  thing  is  ready,  it  is  not  improbable  that  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  will 
take  command  of  the  army,  for  he  is  reported  to  have  a  high  ambition 
to  acquire  reputation  as  a  general,  and  in  virtue  of  his  office  he  is  gen- 
eralissimo of  the  armies  of  the  Confederate  States.    It  will  be  remarked 
that  this  plan  rests  on  the  assumption  that  the  United  States  cannot  or 
will  not  wage  an  offensive  Avar,  or  obtain  any  success  in  their  attempts 
to  recover  the  forts  and  other  property  of  the  Federal  government. 
They  firmly  believe  the  war  will  not  last  a  year,  and  that  1862  will  be- 
hold a  victorious,  compact,  slaveholding  confederate  power  of  fifteen 
states  under  a  strong  government,  prepared  to  hold  its  own  against  the 
world,  or  that  portion  of  it  which  may  attack  it.     I  now  but  repeat  the 
sentiments  and  expectations  of  those  around  me.     They  believe  in  the 
irresistible  power  of  cotton,  in  the  natural  alliance  between  manufactur- 
ing England  and  France  and  the  cotton-producing  slave  states,  in  the 
force  of  their  simple  tariff,  and  in  the  interests  which  arise  out  of  a  sys- 
tem of  free  trade,  which,  however,  by  a  rigorous  legislation,  they  will 
interdict  to  their  neighbors  in  the  free  states,  and  only  open  for  the 
benefit  of  their  foreign  customers.     Commercially,  and  politically,  and 
militarily,  they  have  made  up  their  minds,  and  never  was  there  such 
confidence  exhibited  by  any  people  in  the  future  as  they  have,  or  pre- 
tend to  have,  in  their  destiny.     Listen  to  their  programme. 

It  is  intended  to  buy  up  all  the  cotton  crop  which  can  be  brought 
into  the  market  at  an  average  price,  and  to  give  bonds  of  the  Confed- 
erate States  for  the  amount,  these  bonds  being,  as  we  know,  secured  by 
the  export  duty  on  cotton.  The  government,  with  this  cotton  crop  in 
its  own  hands,  wdll  use  it  as  a  formidable  machine  of  war,  for  cotton 
can  do  any  thing,  from  the  establishment  of  an  empire  to  the  securing 
of  a  shirt  button.  It  is  at  once  king  and  subject,  master  and  servant, 
captain  and  soldier,  artilleryman  and  gun.  Not  one  bale  of  cotton  will 
be  permitted  to  enter  the  Northern  States.     It  will  be  made  an  offence 


14  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

punishable  with  tremendous  penalties,  among  which  confiscation  of 
property,  enormous  fines,  and  even  the  penalty  of  death,  are  enumer- 
ated, to  send  cotton  into  the  free  states.  Thus  Lowell  and  its  kindred 
factories  will  be  reduced  to  ruin,  it  is  said,  and  the  North  to  the  direst 
distress.  If  Manchester  can  get  cotton  and  Lowell  cannot,  there  are 
good  times  coming  for  the  mill-owners. 

The  planters  have  agreed  among  themselves  to  hold  over  one  half  of 
their  cotton  crop  for  their  own  purposes  and  for  the  culture  of  thdr 
fields,  and  to  sell  the  other  to  the  government.  For  each  bale  of  cotton, 
as  I  hear,  a  bond  will  be  issued  on  the  fair  average  price  of  cotton  in  the 
market,  and  this  bond  must  be  taken  at  par  as  a  circulating  medium 
within  the  limits  of  the  slave  states.  This  forced  circulation  will  be  se- 
cured by  the  act  of  the  legislature.  The  bonds  will  bear  interest  at  ten 
per  cent.,  and  they  will  be  issued  on  the  faith  and  security  of  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  duty  of  one  eighth  of  a  cent  on  every  pound  of  cotton  ex- 
ported. All  vessels  loading  with  cotton  will  be  obliged  to  enter  into 
bonds  or  give  security  that  they  will  not  carry  their  cargoes  to  Nor- 
thern ports,  or  let  it  reach  Northern  markets  to  their  knowledge.  The 
government  will  sell  the  cotton  for  cash  to  foreign  buyers,  and  will 
thus  raise  funds  amply  suflficient,  they  contend,  for  all  pui-poses.  I 
make  these  bare  statements,  and  I  leave  to  political  economists  the 
discussion  of  the  question  which  may  and  will  arise  out  of  the  acts  of 
the  Confederate  States.  The  Southerners  argue  that  by  breaking 
from  their  unnatural  alliance  with  the  North  they  will  save  upward  of 
$47,000,000,  or  nearly  £10,000,000  sterling  annually.  The  estimated 
value  of  the  annual  cotton  crop  is  $200,000,000.  On  this  the  North 
formerly  made  at  least  $10,000,000,  by  advances,  interest  and  ex- 
changes, which  in  all  came  to  fully  five  per  cent,  on  the  whole  of  the 
crop.  Again,  the  tarifi"to  raise  revenue  sufficient  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  government  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  is  far  less  than  that 
which  is  required  by  the  government  of  the  United  States.  The  Con- 
federate States  propose  to  have  a  tarifi*  which  will  be  about  121  per 
cent,  on  imports,  which  will  yield  $25,000,000.  The  Northern  tariff 
is  80  per  cent,  and  as  the  South  took  from  the  North  $70,000,000 
worth  of  manufactured  goods  and  produce,  they  contribute,  they  assert, 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  North  to  the  extent  of  the  difference  be- 
tween the  tax  sufficient  for  the  support  of  their  government  and  that 
which  is  required  for  the  support  of  the  Federal  government.  Now 
they  will  save  the  difference  between  30  per  cent,  and  12i  per  cent. 
(17i  per  ct.),  which  amounts  to  $37,000,000,  which,  added  to  the 
saving  on  commissions,  exchanges,  advances,  (fee,  makes  up  the  good 
round  sum  which  I  have  put  down  higher  up.     The  Southerners  are 


PICTURES   OF   SOUTHLEBN  LIFE.  15 

firmly  convinced  that  they  have  "kept  the  North  going"  by  the  prices 
they  have  paid  for  the  protected  articles  of  their  manufacture,  and  they 
hold  out  to  Sheffield,  to  Manchester,  to  Leeds,  to  Wolverhampton,  to 
Dudley,  to  Paris,  to  Lyons,  to  Bordeaux,  to  all  the  centres  of  English 
manufacturing  life,  as  of  French  taste  and  luxury,  the  tempting  baits 
of  new  and  eager  and  hungry  markets.  If  their  facts  and  statistics  are 
accurate,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  justice  of  their  deductions  on 
many  points ;  but  they  can  scarcely  be  correct  in  assuming  that  they 
will  bring  the  United  States  to  destruction  by  cutting  ofl"  from  Lowell 
the  600,000  bales  of  cotton  which  she  usually  consumes.  One  great 
fact,  however,  is  unquestionable — the  government  has  in  its  hands  the 
souls,  the  wealth,  and  the  hearts  of  the  people.  They  will  give  any- 
thing— money,  labor,  life  itself — to  carry  out  their  theories.  "Sir," 
said  an  ex-governor  of  this  state  to  me  to-day,  "  sooner  than  submit 
to  the  North,  we  will  all  become  subject  to  Great  Britain  again."  The 
same  gentleman  is  one  of  many  who  have  given  to  the  government  a 
large  portion  of  their  cotton  crop  every  year  as  a  free-will  offering.  In 
this  instance  his  gift  is  one  of  500  bales  of  cotton,  or  £5,000  per  an- 
num, and  the  papers  teem  with  accounts  of  similar  ''patriotism"  and 
devotion.  The  ladies  are  all  making  sand-bags,  cartridges,  and  uni- 
forms, and,  if  possible,  they  are  more  fierce  than  the  men.  The  time 
for  mediation  is  past,  if  it  ever  were  at  hand  or  present  at  all ;  and  it 
is  scarcely  possible  now  to  prevent  the  processes  of  phlebotomization 
which  are  supposed  to  secure  peace  and  repose. 

There  was  no  intelligence  of  much  interest  on  Sunday,  but  there  is 
a  general  belief  that  Arkansas  and  Missouri  will  send  in  their  adhesion 
to  the  Confederacy  this  week,  and  the  Commissioners  from  Virginia 
are  hourly  expected.  The  attitude  of  that  state,  however,  gives  rise 
to  apprehensions  lest  there  may  be  a  division  of  her  strength ;  and  any 
aggression  on  her  territories  by  the  Federal  government,  such  as  that 
contemplated  in  taking  possession  of  Alexandria,  would  be  hailed  by 
the  Montgomery  government  with  sincere  joy,  as  it  would,  they  think, 
move  the  state  to  more  rapid  action  and  decision. 

Montgomery  is  on  an  undulating  plain,  and  covers  ground  large 
enough  for  a  city  of  200,000  inhabitants,  but  its  population  is  only 
12,000.  Indeed,  the  politicians  here  appear  to  dislike  large  cities,  but 
the  city  designers  certainly  prepare  to  take  them  if  they  come.  There 
is  a  large  negro  population,  and  a  considerable  number  of  a  color  which 
forces  me  to  doubt  the  evidence  of  my  senses  rather  than  the  state- 
ments made  to  me  by  some  of  my  friends,  that  the  planters  afi'eet  the 
character  of  parent  in  their  moral  relations  merely  with  the  negro  race. 
A  waiter  at  the  hotel — a  tall,  handsome  young  fellow,  with  the  least 


16  PICTURES    OF   SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

tinge  of  color  in  liis  clieek,  not  as  dark  as  the  majority  of  Spaniards  or 
Italians— astonished  me  in  my  ignorance  to-day  when,  in  reply  to  a 
question  asked  by  one  of  our  party,  in  consequence  of  a  discussion  on 
the  point,  he  informed  me  he  "  was  a  slave."  The  man,  as  he  said  so, 
looked  confused  ;  his  manner  altered.  He  had  been  talking  familiarly 
to  us,  but  the  moment  he  replied,  "I  am  a  slave,  sir,"  his  loquacity 
disappeared,  and  he  walked  hurriedly  and  in  silence  out  of  the  room. 
The  River  Alabama,  on  which  the  city  rests,  is  a  wide,  deep  stream, 
now  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  breadth,  with  a  current  of  four  miles  an 
hour.  It  is  navigable  to  Mobile,  upward  of  400  miles,  and  steamers 
ascend  its  waters  for  many  miles  beyond  this  into  the  interior.  The 
country  around  is  well  wooded,  and  is  richly  cultivated  in  broad  fields 
of  cotton  and  Indian  corn,  but  the  neighborhood  is  not  healthy,  and 
deadly  fevers  are  said  to  prevail  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year.  There 
is  not  much  animation  in  the  streets,  except  when  "  there  is  a  difficulty 
among  the  citizens,"  or  in  the  eternal  noise  of  the  hotel  steps  and  bars. 
I  w^as  told  this  morning  by  the  hotel  keeper  that  I  was  probably  the 
only  person  in  the  house,  or  about  it,  who  had  not  loaded  revolvers  in 
his  pockets,  and  one  is  aware  occasionally  of  an  unnatural  rigidity 
scarcely  attributable  to  the  osseous  structure  in  the  persons  of  those 
who  pass  one  in  the  crowded  passages. 

Monday,  May  6. — To-day  I  visited  the  capitol,  where  the  Provisional 
Congress  is  sitting.  On  leaving  the  hotel,  which  is  like  a  small  Wil- 
lard's,  so  far  as  the  crowd  in  the  hall  is  concerned,  my  attention  was 
attracted  to  a  group  of  people  to  whom  a  man  was  holding  forth  in 
energetic  sentences.  The  day  was  hot,  but  I  pushed  near  to  the  spot, 
for  I  like  to  hear  a  stump-speech,  or  to  pick  up  a  stray  morsel  of  divin- 
ity in  the  via  sacra  of  strange  cities,  and  it  appeared  as  though  the 
speaker  was  delivering  an  oration  or  a  sermon.  The  crowd  was  small. 
Three  or  four  idle  men  in  rough,  homespun,  makeshift  uniforms,  leaned 
ao-ainst  the  iron  rails  enclosing  a  small  pond  of  foul,  green-looking  wa- 
ter, surrounded  by  brick-work,  wdiich  decorates  the  space  in  front  of 
the  Exchange  hotel.  The  speaker  stood  on  an  empty  deal  packing- 
case.  A  man  in  a  cart  was  listening  wdtli  a  lacklustre  eye  to  the  ad- 
dress. Some  three  or  four  others,  in  a  sort  of  vehicle  which  might 
either  be  a  hearse  or  a  piano  van,  had  also  drawn  up  for  the  benefit  of 
the  address.  Five  or  six  other  men,  in  long  black  coats  and  high  hats, 
some  whittling  sticks,  and  chewing  tobacco,  and  discharging  streams 
of  discolored  saliva,  completed  the  group.  "  N-i-n-e  h'hun'  nerd  and 
fifty  dollars  ?  Only  nine  li-hun  nerd  and  fifty  dollars  off'ered  for  him  !" 
exclaimed  the  man,  in  the  tone  of  injured  dignity,  remonstrance  and 
surprise,  which  can  be  insinuated  by  all  true  auctioneers  into  the  dryest 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  17 

numerical  statements.  "  Will  7io  one  make  any  advance  on  nine  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  ?"  A  man  near  me  opened  his  mouth,  spat,  and 
said,  "  twenty-five."  "  Only  nine  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars 
oftered  for  him.  Why,  at's  radaklous — only  nine  hundred  and  seven- 
ty-five dollars !  Will  no  one,"  &c.  Beside  the  orator  auctioneer 
stood  a  stout  young  man  of  five-and-twenty  years  of  age,  with  a  bun- 
dle in  his  hand.  He  was  a  muscular  fellow,  broad-shouldered,  narrow 
flanked,  but  rather  small  in  stature ;  he  had  on  a  broad,  greasy,  old 
wide-awake,  a  blue  jacket,  a  coarse  cotton  shirt,  loose  and  rather  ragged 
trowsers,  and  broken  shoes.  The  expression  of  his  face  was  heavy  and 
sad,  but  it  was  by  no  means  disagreeable,  in  spite  of  his  thick  lips, 
broad  nostrils,  and  high  cheek-bones.  On  his  head  was  wool  instead 
of  hair.  I  am  neither  sentimentalist  nor  black  republican,  nor  negro- 
worshipper,  but  I  confess  the  sight  caused  a  strange  thrill  through  my 
heart.  I  tried  in  vain  to  make  myself  familiar  with  the  fact  that  I 
could,  for  the  sum  of  $975,  become  as  absolutely  the  owner  of  that 
mass  of  blood,  bones,  sinew,  flesh,  and  brains,  as  of  the  horse  which 
stood  by  my  side.  There  was  no  sophistry  which  could  persuade  me 
the  man  was  not  a  man — he  was,  indeed,  by  no  means  my  brother,  but 
assuredly  he  was  a  fellow-creature.  I  have  seen  slave  markets  in  the 
East,  but  somehow  or  other  the  Orientalism  of  the  scene  cast  a  color- 
ing over  the  nature  of  the  sales  there  which  deprived  them  of  the  dis- 
agreeable harshness  and  matter-of-fact  character  of  the  transaction  be- 
fore me.  For  Turk,  or  Smyrniote,  or  Egyptian  to  buy  and  sell  slaves 
seemed  rather  suited  to  the  eternal  fitness  of  things  than  otherwise. 
The  turbaned,  shawled,  loose-trowsered,  pipe-smoking  merchants  speak- 
ing an  unknown  tongue  looked  as  if  they  were  engaged  in  a  legitimate 
business.  One  knew  that  their  slaves  would  not  be  condemned  to  any 
very  hard  labor,  and  that  they  would  be  in  some  sort  the  inmates  of 
the  family,  and  members  of  it.  Here  it  grated  on  my  ear  to  listen  to 
the  familiar  tones  of  the  English  tongue  as  the  medium  by  which  the 
transfer  was  efiected,  and  it  was  painful  to  see  decent-looking  men  in 
European  garb  engaged  in  the  work  before  me.  Perchance  these  im- 
pressions may  wear  off",  for  I  meet  many  English  people  who  are  the 
most  strenuous  advocates  of  the  slave  system,  although  it  is  true  that 
their  perceptions  may  be  quickened  to  recognize  its  beauties  by  their 
participation  in  the  profits.  The  negro  was  sold  to  one  of  the  bystand- 
ers, and  walked  oft'  with  his  bundle,  God  knows  where.  "  Niggers  is 
cheap,"  was  the  only  remark  of  the  bystanders.  I  continued  my  walk 
up  a  long,  wide,  straight  street,  or  more  properly,  an  unpaved  sandy 
road,  lined  with  wooden  houses  on  each  side,  and  with  trees  by  the 
side  of  the  footpath.      The  lower  of  the  two  stories  is  generally  used 


18  PICTUBES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

as  a  shop,  mostly  of  the  miscellaneous  store  kind,  in  which  all  sorts  of 
articles  are  to  be  had  if  there  is  any  money  to  pay  for  them  ;  and,  in 
the  present  case,  if  any  faith  is  to  be  attached  to  the  conspicuous  no- 
tices in  the  windows,  credit  is  of  no  credit,  and  the  only  thing  that 
can  he  accepted  in  exchange  for  the  goods  is  "  cash."  At  the  end  of 
this  long  street,  on  a  moderate  eminence,  stands  a  whitewashed  or 
painted  edifice,  with  a  gaunt,  lean  portico,  supported  on  lofty  lanky 
pillars,  and  surmounted  by  a  subdued  and  dejected-looking  little 
cupola.  Passing  an  unkempt  lawn,  through  a  very  shabby  little  gate- 
way in  a  brick  frame,  and  we  ascend  a  flight  of  steps  into  a  hall,  from 
which  a  double  staircase  conducts  us  to  the  vestibule  of  the  chamber. 
Any  thing  much  more  offensive  to  the  eye  cannot  well  be  imagined 
than  the  floor  and  stairs.  They  are  stained  deeply  by  tobacco  juice, 
w^hich  has  left  its  marks  on  the  white  stone  steps  and  on  the  base  of 
the  pillars  outside.  In  the  hall  which  we  have  entered  there  are  two 
tables,  covered  with  hams,  oranges,  bread  and  fruits,  for  the  refresh- 
ment of  members  and  visitors,  over  which  two  sable  goddesses,  in 
portentous  crinoline,  preside.  The  door  of  the  chamber  is  open,  and 
we  are  introduced  into  a  lofty,  well-lighted  and  commodious  aj^artment, 
in  which  the  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States  holds  its  deliberations. 
A  gallery  runs  half  round  the  room,  and  is  half  filled  with  visitors — 
country  cousins,  and  farmers  of  cotton  and  maize,  and,  haply,  seekers 
of  places  great  or  small.  A  light  and  low  semicircular  screen  sepa- 
rates the  body  of  the  house,  where  the  members  sit,  from  the  space 
under  the  gallery,  which  is  appropriated  to  ladies  and  visitors.  The 
clerk  sits  at  a  desk  above  this  table,  and  on  a  platform  behind  him  are 
the  desk  and  chair  of  the  presiding  ofiicer  or  Speaker  of  the  Congress. 
Over  his  head  hangs  the  unfailing  portrait  of  Washington,  and  a  small 
engraving,  in  a  black  frame,  of  a  gentleman  unknown  to  me.  Seated 
in  the  midst  of  them,  at  a  senator's  desk,  I  was  permitted  to  "  assist," 
in  the  French  sense,  at  the  deliberations  of  the  Congress.  Mr.  Howell 
Cobb  took  the  chair,  and  a  white-headed  clergyman  was  called  upon 
to  say  prayers,  which  he  did,  upstanding,  with  outstretched  hands  and 
closed  eyes,  by  the  side  of  the  speaker.  The  prayer  was  long  and 
sulphureous.  One  more  pregnant  with  gunpowder  I  never  heard,  nor 
could  auo;ht  like  it  have  been  heard  since. 

"  Pulpit,  drum  ecclesiastic, 
Was  beat  Avith  list  instead  of  stick." 

The  reverend  gentleman  prayed  that  the  Almighty  might  be  pleased 
to  infiict  on  the  arms  of  the  United  States  such  a  defeat  that  it  might 
be  the  example  of  signal  punishment  forever  —  that   this  president 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  19 

might  be  blessed,  and  the  other  president  might  be  the  other  thing — 
that  the  gallant,  devoted  young  soldiers  who  were  fighting  for  their 
country  might  not  suffer  from  exposure  to  the  weather  or  from  the 
bullets  of  their  enemies  ;  and  that  the  base  mercenaries  who  were 
fighting  on  the  other  side  might  come  to  sure  and  swift  destruction, 
and  so  on. 

Are  right  and  wrong  mere  geographical  expressions  ?  The  prayer 
was  over  at  last,  and  the  house  proceeded  to  business.  Although  each 
state  has  several  delegates  In  Congress,  it  is  only  entitled  to  one  vote 
on  a  strict  division.  In  this  way  some  curious  decisions  may  be  ar- 
rived at,  as  the  smallest  state  is  equal  to  the  largest,  and  a  majority  of 
the  Florida  representatives  may  neutralize  a  vote  of  all  the  Georgia 
representatives.  For  example,  Georgia  has  ten  delegates ;  Florida 
has  only  three.  The  vote  of  Florida,  however,  is  determined  by  the 
action  of  any  two  of  its  three  representatives,  and  these  two  may,  on  a 
division,  throw  the  one  state  vote  into  the  scale  against  that  of  Georgia, 
for  which  ten  members  are  agreed.  The  Congress  transacts  all  its  busi- 
ness in  secret  session,  and  finds  it  a  very  agreeable  and  commendable  way 
of  doing  it.  Thus,  to-day,  for  example,  after  the  presentation  of  a 
few  unimportant  motions  and  papers,  the  speaker  rapped  his  desk,  and 
announced  that  the  house  would  go  into  secret  session,  and  that  all  who 
were  not  members  should  leave. 

As  I  was  returning  to  the  hotel  there  was  another  small  crowd  at 
the  fountain.  Another  auctioneer,  a  fat,  flabby,  perspiring,  puffy  man, 
was  trying  to  sell  a  negro  girl,  who  stood  on  the  deal  box  beside  him. 
She  was  dressed  pretty  much  like  a  London  servant-girl  of  the  lower 
order  out  of  place,  except  that  her  shoes  were  mere  shreds  of  leather 
patches,  and  her  bonnet  would  have  scarce  passed  muster  in  the  New 
Cut.  She,  too,  had  a  little  bundle  in  her  hand,  and  looked  out  at  the 
buyers  from  a  pair  of  large  ^ad  eyes.  "  Niggers  were  cheap  ;"  still 
here  was  this  young  woman  going  for  an  upset  price  of  $6 1 0,  but  no 
one  would  bid,  and  the  auctioneer,  after  vain  attempts  to  raise  the 
price  and  excite  competition,  said,  "  Not  sold  to-day,  Sally ;  you  may 
get  down." 

Tuesday,  May  V. — The  newspapers  contain  the  text  of  the  declaration 
of  a  state  of  war  on  the  part  of  President  Davis,  and  of  the  issue  of 
letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  &c.  But  it  may  be  asked,  who  will  take 
these  letters  of  marque  ?  Where  is  the  government  of  Montgomery  to 
find  ships  ?  The  answer  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  already  numer- 
ous applications  have  been  received  from  the  shipowners  of  New  Eng- 
land, from  the  whalers  of  New  Bedford,  and  from  others  in  the  Northern 
States,  for  these  very  letters  of  marque,  accompanied  by  the  highest 


20 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 


securities  and  guaranties  !  This  statement  I  make  on  fhe  very  highest 
authority".     I  leave  it  to  you  to  deal  with  the  facts. 

To-day  I  proceeded  to  the  Montgomery  Downing  street  and  White- 
hall, to  present  myself  to  the  members  of  the  cabinet,  and  to  be  intro- 
duced to  the  President  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America.  There 
is  no  sentry  at  the  doors,  and  access  is  free  to  all,  but  there  are  notices 
on  the  doors  warning  visitors  that  they  can  only  be  received  during 
certain  hours.  The  President  was  engaged  with  some  gentlemen  when 
I  was  presented  to  him,  but  he  received  me  with  much  kindliness  of 
manner,  and,  when  they  had  left,  entered  into  conversation  with  me  for 
some  time  on  general  matters.  Mr.  Davis  is  a  man  of  slight,  sinewy 
figure,  rather  over  the  middle  height,  and  of  erect,  soldierlike  bearing. 
He  is  about  fifty-five  years  of  age ;  his  features  are  regular  and  well- 
defined,  but  the  face  is  thin  and  marked  on  cheek  and  brow  with  many 
wrinkles,  and  is  rather  careworn  and  haggard.  One  eye  is  apparently 
blind,  the  other  is  dark,  piercing,  and  intelligent.  He  was  dressed  very 
plainly,  in  a  light-gray  summer  suit.  In  the  course  of  conversation,  he 
gave  an  order  for  the  Secretary  of  War  to  furnish  me  with  a  letter  as  a 
kind  of  passport,  in  case  of  my  falling  in  with  the  soldiers  of  any  mili- 
tary posts  who  might  be  indisposed  to  let  me  pass  freely,  merely  ob- 
serving that  I  had  been  enough  within  the  lines  of  camps  to  know  what 
was  my  duty  on  such  occasions.  I  subsequently  was  presented  to  Mr. 
Walker,  the  Secretary  of  War,  who  promised  to  furnish  me  with  the 
needful  documents  before  I  left  Montgomery.  In  his  room  were  General 
Beauregard  and  several  officers,  engaged  over  plans  and  maps,  apparently 
in  a  little  council  of  war,  which  was,  perhaps,  not  without  reference  to 
the  intelligence  that  the  United  States  troops  were  marching  on  Norfolk 
Navy- Yard,  and  had  actually  occupied  Alexandria.  On  leaving  the  Sec- 
retary, I  proceeded  to  the  room  of  the  Attorney-General,  Mr.  Benjamin, 
a  very  intelligent  and  able  man,  whom  I  found  busied  in  preparations 
connected  with  the  issue  of  letters  of  marque..  Every  thing  in  the  offices 
looked  like  earnest  work  and  business. 

On  my  way  back  from  the  State  Department,  I  saw  a  very  fine  com- 
pany of  infimtry  and  three  field-pieces,  with  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  artillerymen,  on  their  march  to  the  railway  station  for  Virginia. 
The  men  were  all  well  equipped,  but  there  were  no  ammunition  wagons 
for  the  guns,  and  the  transport  consisted  solely  of  a  few  country  carts, 
drawn  by  poor  horses,  out  of  condition.  There  is  no  lack  of  muscle 
and  will  among  the  men.  The  troops  Avhich  I  see  here  are  quite  fit  to 
march  and  fight  as  far  as  their  personnel  is  concerned,  and  there  is  no 
people  in  the  world  so  crazy  with  military  madness.  The  very  children 
in  the  streets  ape  the  air  of  soldiers,  carr/^  little  flags,  and  wear  cock- 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  21 

ades  as  they  strut  in  the  highways,  and  mothers  and  fathers  feed  the 
fever  by  dressing  them  up  as  Zouaves  or  Chasseurs. 

Mrs.  Davis  had  a  small  levee  to-day  in  right  of  her  position  as  wife 
of  the  President.  Several  ladies  there  probably  looked  forward  to  the 
time  when  their  states  miofht  secede  from  the  new  Confederation,  and 
afford  them  the  pleasure  of  holding  a  reception.  Why  not  Presidents 
of  the  State  of  Georgia,  or  Alabama  ?  Why  not  King  of  South  Caro- 
lina, or  Emperor  of  Florida  ?  Soldiers  of  fortune,  make  your  game ! 
Gentlemen  politicians,  the  ball  is  rolling.  There  is,  to  be  sure,  a  storm 
gathering  at  the  North,  but  it  cannot  hurt  you,  and  already  there  are 
condottieri  from  all  parts  of  the  world  flocking  to  your  aid,  who  will  eat 
your  Southern  beeves  the  last  of  all. 

One  word  more  as  to  a  fleet.  The  English  owners  of  several  large 
steamers  are  already  in  correspondence  with  government  here  for  the 
purchase  of  their  vessels.  The  intelligence  which  had  reached  the 
government  that  their  commissioners  have  gone  on  to  Paris  is  regarded 
as  unfavorable  to  their  claims,  and  as  a  proof  that  as  yet  England  is  not 
disposed  to  recognize  them.  It  is  amusing  to  hear  the  tone  used  on 
both  sides  toward  Great  Britain.  Both  are  most  anxious  for  her  coun- 
tenance and  support,  although  the  North  blusters  rather  more  about  its 
independence  than  the  South,  which  professes  a  warm  regard  for  the 
mother  country.  "  But,"  say  the  North,  "  if  Great  Britain  recognizes 
the  South,  we  shall  certainly  look  on  it  as  a  declaration  of  war." 
"  And,"  say  the  South,  "if  Great  Britain  does  not  recognize  our  priva- 
teers' flag,  we  shall  regard  it  as  proof  of  hostility  and  of  alliance  with 
the  enemy."  The  government  at  Washington  seeks  to  obtain  promises 
from  Lord  Lyons  that  our  government  will  not  recognize  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  but  at  the  same  time  refuses  any  guaranties  in  reference 
to  the  rights  of  neutrals.  The  blockade  of  the  Southern  ports  would 
not  occasion  us  any  great  inconvenience  at  present,  because  the  cotton- 
loading  season  is  over ;  but  if  it  be  enforced  in  October,  there  is  a  pros- 
pect of  very  serious  and  embarrassing  questions  arising  in  reference  to 
the  rights  of  neutrals,  treaty  obligations  with  the  United  States  govern- 
ment, the  trade  and  commerce  of  England,  and  the  law  of  blockade  in 
reference  to  the  distinctions  to  be  drawn  between  measures  of  war  and 
means  of  annoyance. 

As  I  write,  the  guns  in  front  of  the  State  Department  are  firing  a 
salute,  and  each  report  marks  a  state  of  the  Confederacy.  They  are 
now  ten,  as  Arkansas  and  Tennessee  are  now  out  of  the  Union. 


22  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

Montgomery,  Monday,  May  6,  1861. 
Althougli  I  liave  written  two  letters  since  my  arrival  at  Charleston, 
I  have  not  been  able  to  give  an  account  of  many  things  which  have 
come  under  my  notice,  and  which  appeared  to  be  noteworthy ;  and 
now  that  I  am  fairly  on  my  travels  once  more,  it  seems  only  too  proba- 
ble that  I  shall  be  obliged  to  pass  them  over  altogether.  The  rolling 
fire  of  the  revolution  is  fast  sweeping  over  the  prairie,  and  one  must 
fly  before  it  or  burn.  I  am  obliged  to  see  all  that  can  be  seen  of  the 
South  at  once,  and  then,  armed  with  such  safeguards  as  I  can  procure, 
to  make  an  effort  to  recover  my  communications.  Bridges  broken, 
rails  torn  up,  telegraphs  pulled  down — I  am  quite  in  the  air,  and  air 
charged  with  powder  and  fire.  One  of  the  most  extraordinary  books 
in  the  world  could  be  made  out  of  the  cuttings  and  parings  of  the 
newspapers  which  have  been  published  within  the  last  few  days.  The 
judgments,  statements,  asseverations  of  the  press,  everywhere  neces- 
sarily hasty,  ill-sifted  and  off-hand,  do  not  aspire  to  even  an  ephemeral 
existence  here.  They  are  of  use  if  they  serve  the  purpose  of  the  mo- 
ment, and  of  the  little  boys  who  commence  their  childhood  in  deceit, 
and  continue  to  adolescence  in  iniquity,  by  giving  vocal  utterance  to 
the  "  sensation"  headings  of  the  journals  they  retail  so  sharply  and  so 
curtly.  Talk  of  the  superstition  of  the  middle  ages ;  or  of  the  credu- 
lity of  the  more  advanced  periods  of  rural  life  ;  laugh  at  the  Holy  Coat 
of  Treves,  or  groan  over  the  Lady  of  Salette ;  deplore  the  faith  in 
winking  pictures,  or  in  a  communique  of  the  Moniteur ;  moralize  on 
the  superstition  which  discovers  more  in  the  liquefaction  of  the  ichor 
of  St.  Gennaro  than  a  chemical  trick,  but  if  you  desire  to  understand 
how  far  faith  can  see  and  trust  among  the  people  who  consider  them- 
selves the  most  civilized  and  intelligent  in  the  world,  you  will  study 
the  American  journals,  and  read  the  telegrams  which  appear  in  them. 
One  day  the  Seventh  New  York  regiment  is  destroyed  for  the  edifica- 
tion of  the  South,  and  is  cut  up  into  such  small  pieces  that  none  of  it 
is  ever  seen  afterward.  The  next  day  it  marches  into  Washington  or 
Annapolis  all  the  better  for  the  process.  Another,  in  order  to  en- 
courage the  North,  it  is  said  that  hecatombs  of  dead  were  carried  out 
of  Fort  Moultrie,  packed  up,  for  easy  travelling,  in  boxes.  Again,  to 
irritate  both,  it  is  credibly  stated  that  Lord  Lyons  is  going  to  interfere, 
or  that  an  Anglo-French  fleet  is  coming  to  watch  the  ports,  and  so 
on,  through  a  wild  play  of  fancy,  inexact  in  line  as  though  the  batteries 
were  charged  with  the  aurora  horealls  or  summer  lightning,  instead  of 
the  respectable,  steady,  manageable  offspring  of  acid  and  metal,  to 
whose  staid  deportment  we  are  accustomed  at  a  moderate  price  for 
entrance.     As  is  usual  in  such  periods,  the  contending  parties  accuse 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIEE.  23 

each  other  of  inveterate  falsehood,  perfidy,  oppression  and  local  tyranny 
and  persecution.  "Madness  rules  the  hour."  The  exultation  of  the 
South  when  the  flag  of  the  United  States  was  lowered  at  Sumter  has 
been  answered  by  a  shout  of  indignation  and  battle-cry  from  the  North, 
and  the  excitement  at  Charleston  has  produced  a  reflex  action  there, 
the  energy  of  which  cannot  be  described.  The  apathy  which  struck 
me  at  New  York,  when  I  landed,  has  been  succeeded  by  violent  popular 
enthusiasm,  before  which  all  Laodicean  policy  has  melted  into  fervent 
activity.  The  truth  must  be  that  the  New  York  population  did  not 
believe  in  the  strength  and  unanimity  of  the  South,  and  that  they 
thought  the  Union  safe,  or  did  not  care  about  it.  I  can  put  down  the 
names  of  gentlemen  who  expressed  the  strongest  opinions  that  the 
government  of  the  United  States  had  no  power  to  coerce  the  South, 
and  who  have  since  put  down  their  names  and  their  money  to  support 
the  government  in  the  attempt  to  recover  the  forts  which  have  been 
taken.  As  to  the  change  of  opinion  in  other  quarters,  which  has  been 
effected  so  rapidly  and  miraculously  that  it  has  the  ludicrous  air  of  a 
vulgar  juggler's  trick  at  a  fair,  the  public  regard  it  so  little  that  it  would 
be  unbecoming  to  waste  a  word  about  it. 

I  expressed  a  belief  in  a  letter,  written  a  few  days  after  my  arrival, 
that  the  South  would  never  go  back  into  the  Union.  The  North  thinks 
that  it  can  coerce  the  South,  and  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  they  are 
right  or  wrong ;  but  I  am  convinced  that  the  South  can  only  be  forced 
back  by  such  a  conquest  as  that  which  laid  Poland  prostrate  at  the 
feet  of  Russia.  It  may  be  that  such  a  conquest  can  be  made  by  the 
North,  but  success  must  destroy  the  Union  as  it  has  been  constituted 
in  times  past.  A  strong  government  must  be  the  logical  consequence 
of  victory,  and  the  triumph  of  the  South  will  be  attended  by  a  similar 
result,  for  which,  indeed,  many  Southerners  are  very  well  disposed. 
To  the  people  of  the  Confederate  States  there  would  be  no  terror  in 
such  an  issue,  for  it  appears  to  me  they  are  pining  for  a  strong  govern- 
ment exceedingly.  The  North  must  accept  it  whether  they  like  it  or 
not.  Neither  party,  if  such  a  term  can  be  applied  to  the  rest  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  those  states  which  disclaim  the  authority  of  the 
Federal  government,  was  prepared  for  the  aggressive  or  resisting  power 
'  of  the  other.  Already  the  Confederate  States  perceive  that  they  can- 
not carry  all  before  them  with  a  rush,  while  the  North  have  learnt  that 
they  must  put  forth  all  their  strength  to  make  good  a  tithe  of  their 
lately  uttered  threats.  But  the  Montgomery  government  are  now, 
they  say,  anxious  to  gain  time,  and  to  prepare  a  regular  army.  The 
North,  distracted  by  apprehensions  of  vast  disturbance  in  its  compli- 
cated relations,  is  clamoring  for  mstant  action  and  speedy  consumma- 


24  PICTURES    OF    SOUTIIEKN   LIFE. 

tion.  The  counsels  of  moderate  men,  as  they  were  called,  have  been 
utterly  overruled. 

I  am  now,  however,  dealing  with  South  Carolina,  which  has  been 
the  fons  et  origo  of  the  secession  doctrines  and  their  development  into 
the  full  life  of  the  Confederate  States.  The  whole  foundation  on 
which  South  Carolina  rests  is  cotton  and  a  certain  amount  of  rice;  or 
rather  she  bases  her  whole  fabric  on  the  necessity  which  exists  in 
Europe  for  those  products  of  her  soil,  believing  and  asserting,  as  she 
does,  that  England  and  France  cannot  and  will  not  do  without  them. 
Cotton,  without  a  market,  is  so  much  flocculent  matter  encumbering 
the  ground.  Rice,  without  demand  for  it,  is  unsalable  grain  in  store 
and  on  the  field.  Cotton  at  ten  cents  a  pound  is  boundless  prosperity, 
empire  and  superiority,  and  rice  or  grain  need  no  longer  be  rejrarded. 
In  the  matter  of  slave  labor,  South  Carolina  argues  pretty  much  iu  this 
way :  England  and  France  require  our  products.  In  order  to  meet 
their  wants,  we  must  cultivate  our  soil.  There  is  only  one  way  of 
doing  so.  The  white  man  cannot  live  on  our  land  at  certain  seasons  of 
the  year  ;  he  cannot  work  in  the  manner  required  by  the  crops.  He 
must,  therefore,  employ  a  race  suited  to  the  labor,  and  that  is  a  race 
which  will  only  work  when  it  is  obliged  to  do  so.  That  race  was  im- 
ported from  Africa,  under  the  sanction  of  the  law,  by  our  ancestors, 
when  we  were  a  British  colony,  and  it  has  been  fostered  by  us,  so  that 
its  increase  here  has  been  as  great  as  that  of  the  most  flourishing  people 
in  the  world.  In  other  places,  where  its  labor  was  not  productive  or 
imperatively  essential,  that  race  has  been  made  free,  sometimes  with 
disastrous  consequences  to  itself  and  to  industry.  But  we  will  not 
make  it  free.  We  cannot  do  so.  We  hold  that  slavery  is  essential  to 
our  existence  as  producers  of  what  Europe  requires,  nay  more,  we 
maintain  it  is  in  the  abstract  right  in  principle  ;  and  some  of  us  go  so 
far  as  to  maintain  that  the  only  proper  form  of  society,  according  to 
the  law  of  God  and  the  exigencies  of  man,  is  that  which  has  slavery 
as  its  basis.  As  to  the  slave,  he  is  happier  far  in  his  state  of  servitude, 
more  civilized  and  religious,  than  he  is  or  could  be  if  free  or  in  his 
native  Africa. 

I  have  already  endeavored  to  describe  the  aspect  of  Charleston,  and 
I  will  now  make  a  few  observations  on  matters  which  struck  me  during 
my  visit  to  one  or  two  of  the  planters  of  the  many  who  were  kind 
enough  to  give  me  invitations  to  their  residences  in  the  state.  Early 
one  morning  I  started  in  a  steamer  to  visit  a  plantation  in  the  Pedee 
and  Maccamaw  district,  in  the  island  coast  of  the  state,  north  of  Charles- 
ton. Passing  Sumter,  on  wdiich  men  are  busily  engaged,  under  the 
Confederate  flag,  in  making  good  damages  and  mounting  guns,  we  put 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  25 

out  a  few  miles  to  sea,  and  with  the  low  sandy  shore,  dotted  with  sol- 
diers, and  guard-houses,  and  clumps  of  trees,  on  our  left,  in  a  few 
hours  pass  the  Santee  River,  and  enter  an  estuary  into  which  the 
Pedee  and  Maccamaw  Rivers  run  a  few  miles  further  to  the  north- 
west. The  steamer  ran  alongside  a  jetty  and  pier,  which  was  crowded 
by  men  in  uniform  waiting  for  the  news  and  for  supplies  of  creature 
comforts.  Ladies  were  cantering  along  the  fine  hard  beach,  and  some 
gigs  and  tax-carts  fully  laden  rolled  along  very  much  as  one  sees 
them  at  Scarborough.  The  soldiers  on  the  pier  were  al  Igentlemen  of 
the  county.  Some,  dressed  in  gray  tunics  and  yellow  facings,  in  high 
felt  hats  and  plumes  and  jack-boots,  would  have  done  no  discredit  in 
face,  figure  and  bearing  to  the  gayest  cavaliers  who  ever  thundered  at 
the  heels  of  Prince  Rupert.  Their  horses,  full  of  C?rolinian  fire  and 
mettle,  stood  picketed  under  the  trees  along  the  margin  of  the  beach. 
Among  these  men,  who  had  been  doing  the  duty  of  common  troopers 
in  patrolling  the  sea-coast,  were  gentlemen  possessed  of  large  estates 
and  princely  fortunes ;  and  one  who  stood  among  them  was  pointed 
out  to  me  as  captain  of  a  company,  for  whose  uses  his  liberality  pro- 
vided unbounded  daily  libations  of  champagne,  and  the  best  luxuricL. 
which  French  ingenuity  can  safely  imprison  in  those  well-known 
caskets  with  which  Crimean  warriors  were  not  unacquainted  at  the 
close  of  the  campaign.  They  were  eager  for  news,  which  was  shouted 
out  to  them  by  their  friends  in  the  steamer,  and  one  was  struck  by  the 
intimate  personal  cordiality  and  familiar  acquaintance  which  existed 
among  them.  Three  heavy  guns  mounted  in  an  earthwork  defended 
by  palisades,  covered  the  beach  and  the  landing-place,  and  the  garri- 
son was  to  have  been  reinforced  by  a  regiment  from  Charleston, 
which,  however,  had  not  got  in  readiness  to  go  up  on  our  steamer, 
owing  to  some  little  difficulties  between  the  volunteers,  their  oflacers, 
and  the  quartermaster-general's  department. 

As  the  Nina  approaches  the  tumble-down  wharf,  two  or  three  citi- 
zens advance  from  the  shade  of  shaky  sheds  to  welcome  us,  and  a  few 
country  vehicles  and  light  phaetons  are  drawn  forth  from  the  same 
shelter  to  receive  the  passengers,  while  the  negro  boys  and  girls  who 
have  been  playing  upon  the  bales  of  cotton  and  barrels  of  rice,  which 
represent  the  trade  of  the  place  on  the  wharf,  take  up  commanding 
positions  for  the  better  observation  of  our  proceedings.  There  is  an 
air  of  quaint  simplicity  and  old-fashioned  quiet  about  Georgetown, 
refreshingly  antagonistic  to  the  bustle  and  tumult  of  most  American 
cities.  While  waiting  for  our  vehicl  ewe  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of 
one  of  our  friends,  who  took  us  into  an  old-fashioned  angular  wooden 
mansion,  more  than  a  century  old,  still  sound  in  every    timber,  and 


26  nCTURES    OF    SOUTHEKN    LIFE. 

testifying,  in  its  quaint  wainscotings,  and  the  rigid  framework  of  door 
and  window,  to  the  durability  of  its  cypress  timbers  and  the  preserv- 
ative character  of  the  atmosphere.  In  early  days  it  was  the  crack 
house  of  the  old  settlement,  and  the  residence  of  the  founder  of  the 
female  branch  of  the  family  of  our  host,  who  now  only  makes  it  his 
halting  place  when  passing  to  and  fro  between  Charleston  and  his  plan- 
tation, leaving  it  the  year  round  in  charge  of  an  old  servant  and  her 
grandchild.  Rose-trees  and  iiov,^cring  shrubs  clustered  before  the  porch 
and  filled  the  garden  in  front,  :ind  the  establishment  gave  one  a  good 
idea  of  a  London  merchant's  retreat  about  Chelsea  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago. 

At  lena^th  we  were  ready  for  our  journey,  and,  mounted  in  two  light 
covered  vehicles,  proceeded  along  the  sandy  track  which,  after  a  while, 
led  us  to  a  cut  deep  in  the  bosom  of  the  woods,  where  silence  was  only 
broken  by  the  cry  of  a  woodpecker,  the  boom  of  a  crane,  or  the  shai-p 
challenge  of  the  jay.  For  miles  we  passed  through  the  shades  of  this 
forest,  meeting  only  two  or  three  vehicles  containing  female  planterdom 
on  little  excursions  of  pleasure  or  business,  who  smiled  their  welcome 
as  we  passed.  Arrived  at  a  deep  chocolate-colored  stream,  called  Black 
River,  full  of  fish  and  alligators,  we  find  a  flat  large  enough  to  accom- 
modate vehicles  and  passengers,  and  propelled  by  two  negroes  pulling 
upon  a  stretched  rope,  in  the  manner  usual  in  the  ferry-boats  of  Swit- 
zerland, ready  for  our  reception.  Another  drive  through  a  more  open 
country,  and  we  reach  a  fine  grove  of  pine  and  live-oak,  which  melts 
away  into  a  shrubbery  guarded  by  a  rustic  gateway,  passing  through 
which,  we  are  brought  by  a  sudden  turn  into  the  planter's  house,  buried 
in  trees,  which  dispute  with  the  green  ^ward  and  with  wild  flower-beds 
every  yard  of  the  space  which  lies  between  the  hall-door  and  the  waters 
of  the  Pedee ;  and  in  a  few  minutes,  as  we  gaze  over  the  expanse  of 
fields  just  tinged  with  green  by  the  first  life  of  the  early  rice  crops, 
marked  by  the  deep  water-cuts,  and  bounded  by  a  fringe  of  unceasing 
forest,  the  chimneys  of  the  steamer  we  had  left  at  Georgetown  gliding 
as  it  were  through  the  fields,  indicate  the  existence  of  another  navi- 
gable river  still  beyond.  Leaving  with  regret  the  verandah  which  com- 
manded so  enchanting  a  foreground,  we  enter  the  house,  and  are  re- 
minded by  its  low-browed,  old-fashioned  rooms,  of  the  country  houses 
yet  to  be  found  in  parts  of  Ireland  or  on  the  Scottish  border,  with 
additions,  made  by  the  luxury  and  love  of  foreign  travel,  of  more  than 
one  generation  of  educated  Southern  planters.  Paintings  from  Italy 
illustrate  the  walls,  in  juxtaposition  with  interesting  portraits  of  early 
colonial  governors  and  their  lovely  womankind,  limned  with  no  uncer- 
tain hand,  and  full  of  the  vigor  of  touch  and  naturalness  of  drapery, 


PICTtJRES    OP   SOUTHERN   LIFE.  27 

of  which  Copley  has  left  iis  too  few  exemplars  ;  and  one  portrait  of  Ben- 
jamin West  claims  for  itself  such  honor  as  his  own  pencil  can  give.  An 
excellent  library — filled  with  collections  of  French  and  English  classics, 
and  with  those  ponderous  editions  of  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  the  Memoires 
pour  Servir,  books  of  travel  and  history  such  as  delighted  our  fore- 
fathers in  the  last  century,  and  many  works  of  American  and  general 
history — affords  ample  occupation  for  a  rainy  day.  But  alas !  these,  and 
all  things  good  which  else  the  house  affords,  can  be  enjoyed  but  for  a 
brief  season.  Just  as  nature  has  expanded  every  charm,  developed 
every  grace,  and  clothed  the  scene  with  all  the  beauty  of  opened  flower, 
of  ripening  grain,  and  of  mature  vegetation,  on  the  wings  of  the  wind 
the  poisoned  breath  comes,  borne  to  the  home  of  the  white  man,  and 
he  must  fly  before  it  or  perish.  The  books  lie  unopened  on  their 
shelves,  the  flower  blooms  and  dies  unheeded,  and,  pity  'tis  true,  the 
old  Madeira  garnered  'neath  the  roof,  settles  down  for  a  fresh  lease  of 
life,  and  sets  about  its  solitary  task  of  acquiring  a  finer  flavor  for  the 
infrequent  lips  of  its  banished  master  and  his  welcome  visitors.  This 
is  the  story,  at  least,  that  we  hear  on  all  sides,  and  such  is  the  tale  re- 
peated to  us  beneath  the  porch,  when  the  moon  enhances  w^hile  soften- 
ing the  loveliness  of  the  scene,  and  the  rich  melody  of  mocking-birds 
fills  the  grove. 

Within  these  hospitable  doors  Horace  might  banquet  better  than  he 
did  with  Nasidienus,  and  drmk  such  wine  as  can  be  only  found  among 
the  descendants  of  the  ancestry  who,  improvident  enough  in  all  else, 
learnt  the  wisdom  of  bottling  up  choice  old  Bual  and  Sercial  ere  the 
demon  of  oidium  had  dried  up  their  generous  sources  forever.  To 
these  must  be  added  excellent  bread,  ingenious  varieties  of  the  galette, 
compounded  now  of  rice  and  now  of  Indian  meal,  delicious  butter  and 
fruits,  all  good  of  their  kind.  And  is  there  any  thing  bitter  rising  up 
from  the  bottom  of  the  social  bowl  ?  My  black  friends  Avho  attend  on 
me  are  grave  as  Mussulman  Khitmutgars.  They  are  attired  in  liveries 
and  wear  white  cravats  and  Berlin  gloves.  At  night  when  we  retire, 
off  they  go  to  their  outer  darkness  in  the  small  settlement  of  negro- 
hood,  which  IS  separated  from  our  house  by  a  wooden  palisade.  Their 
fidelity  is  undoubted.  The  house  breathes  an  air  of  security.  The 
doors  and  windows  are  unlocked.  There  is  but  one  gun,  a  fowling- 
piece,  on  the  premises.  No  planter  hereabouts  has  any  dread  of  his 
slaves.  But  I  have  seen,  within  the  short  time  I  have  been  in  this 
part  of  the  world,  several  dreadful  accounts  of  murder  and  violence, 
in  which  masters  suifered  at  the  hands  of  their  slaves.  There  is  some- 
thing suspicious  in  the  constant  never-ending  statement  that  "  we  are 
not  afraid  of  our  slaves."     The  curfew  and  the  night  patrol  in  the 


28  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

streets,  the  prisons  and  watch-houses,  and  the  pohce  regulations,  prove 
that  strict  supervision,  at  all  events,  is  needed  and  necessary.  My 
host  is  a  kind  man  and  a  good  master.  If  slaves  are  happy  anywhere, 
they  should  be  so  wdth  him. 

These  people  are  fed  by  their  master.  They  have  upwards  of  half 
a  pound  per  diem  of  fat  pork,  and  corn  in  abundance.  They  rear 
poultry  and  sell  their  chickens  and  eggs  to  the  house.  They  arc 
clothed  by  their  master.  He  keeps  them  in  sickness  as  in  health. 
Now  and  then  there  are  gifts  of  tobacco  and  molasses  for  the  deserv- 
ing. There  was  little  labor  going  on  in  the  fields,  for  the  rice  has  been 
just  exerting  itself  to  get  its  head  above  water.  These  fields  yield 
plentifully  ;  for  the  w^aters  of  the  river  are  fat,  and  they  are  let  in  when- 
ever the  planter  requires  it,  by  means  of  floodgates  and  small  canals, 
through  which  the  flats  can  carry  their  loads  of  grain  to  the  river  for 
loading  the  steamers. 


Mobile,  Ala.,  Saturday,  May  11,  1861; 

The  wayfarer  who  confides  in  the  maps  of  a  strange  country,  or'who 
should  rely  upon  even  the  guide-books  of  the  United  States,  which 
still  lack  a  Murray  or  a  Bradshaw,  may  be  at  times  embarrassed  by  in- 
superable hills  and  innavigable  rivers.  When,  however,  I  saw  the  three 
towering  stories  of  the  high-pressure  steamer  Southern  Republic,  on 
board  of  which  we  tumbled  down  the  steep  bank  of  the  Alabama  river 
at  Montgomery,  any  such  misgivings  vanished  from  my  mind.  So 
colossal  an  ark  could  have  ascended  no  mythical  stream,  and  the  ex- 
istence and  capabilities  of  the  Alabama  were  demonstrated  by  its 
presence. 

Punctuality  is  reputed  a  rare  virtue  in  the  river  steamers  of  the  West 
and  South,  and  seldom  leave  their  wharves  until  they  have  bagged  a 
fair  complement  of  passengers,  although  steaming  up  and  ringing  gongs 
and  bells  every  afternoon  for  a  week  or  more  before  their  departure,  as 
if  travelers  were  to  be  swarmed  like  bees.  Whether  stimulated  by  the 
infectious  activity  of  these  "  war  times,"  or  convinced  that  the  "  polite- 
ness of  kings"  is  the  best  steamboat  policy,  the  grandson  of  Erin  who 
owns  and  commands  the  Southern  Republic,  casts  off"  his  fastenings  but 
lialf  an  hour  after  his  promised  start,  and  the  short  puff"  of  the  engine  is 
enlivened  by  the  wild  strains  of  a  steam-organ  called  a  "  caliope,"  which 
gladdens  us  with  the  assurance  that  we  are  in  the  incomparable  "  land 
of  Dixie." 

Reserving  for  a  cooler  hour  the  attractions  of  the  lower  floor,  a  Hades 
consecrated  to  machinery,  freight  and  negroes,  we  betake  ourselves  to 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  29 

the  second  landing,  -where  we  find  a  long  dining  hall,  surrounded  by  two 
tiers  of  state-rooms,  the  upper  one  accessible  by  a  stair-way  leading  to 
a  gallery,  which  divides  the  "  saloon"  between  floor  and  roof.  We  are 
shown  our  quarters,  which  leave  much  to  be  desired  and  nothing  to 
spare,  and  rush  from  their  suffocating  atmosphere  to  the  outer  balcony, 
where  a  faint  breeze  stirs  the  air.  There  is  a  roofed  balcony  above  us 
that  corresponds  to  the  second  tier  of  state-rooms,  from  which  a  party 
of  excited  secessionists  are  discharging  revolvers  at  the  dippers  on  the 
surface,  and  the  cranes  on  the  banks  of  the  river. 

After  we  have  dropped  down  five  or  six  miles  from  Montgomery,  the 
steam-whistle  announces  our  approach  to  a  landing,  and,  as  there  is  no 
wharf  in  view,  we  watch  curiously  the  process  by  which  our  top-heavy 
craft,  under  the  sway  of  a  four-knot  current,  is  to  swing  round  to  her  in- 
visible moorings.  As  we  draw  nigh  to  a  wagon-worn  indenture  in  the 
bank,  the  "  scream"  softens  into  the  dulcet  pipes  of  the  "  caliope,"  and 
the  steamer  doubles  upon  her  track,  like  an  elephant  turning  at  bay,  her 
two  engines  being  as  independent  of  each  other  as  seceding  states,  and 
slowly  stemm'.no-  the  stream,  lays  her  nose  upon  the  bank,  and  holds  it 
there  Avitli  the  judicious  aid  of  her  paddles  until  a  long  plank  is  run 
ashore  from  her  bow,  over  which  three  passengers  with  valises  make 
w^ay  for  a  planter  and  his  family,  who  come  on  board.  The  gang  plank 
is  hauled  in,  the  steamer  turns  her  head  down  stream  with  the  expert- 
ness  of  a  whale  in  a  canal,  and  we  resume  our  voyajre*.  We  renew  these 
stoppages  various  times  before  dark,  landing  here  a  barrel  and  there  a 
box,  and  occasionally  picking  up  a  passenger. 

After  supper,  which  is  served  on  a  series  of  parallel  tables  running 
athwai-t  the  saloon,  we  return  to  enjoy  from  the  balcony  the  cool  obscu- 
rity of  the  evening  in  this  climate,  where  light  means  heat.  As  we  clea\  e 
the  glassy  surface  of  the  black  water  the  timber-clad  banks  seem  to  hem 
us  in  more  closely,  and  to  shut  up  the  vista  before  us,  and  while  we 
glide  down  with  a  i-apidity  which  would  need  but  the  roar  of  the  rapids 
to  prefigure  a  cataract  beyond,  we  yield  to  the  caprice  of  fancy,  institut- 
ing comparisons  between  the  dark  perspective  ahead  and  the  mystery  of 
the  future. 

Again  a  scream,  and  a  ruddy  light  flashes  from  our  prow  and  deepens 
the  shades  around  us.  This  proceeds  from  the  burning  of  *'  light-wood" 
— a  highly  resinous  pine — in  a  wire  basket  hung  on  gimbals,  and  held 
like  a  landing-net  below  the  bow  of  the  steamer,  so  as  to  guide  without 
blinding  the  pilot,  who  is  ensconced  like  a  Hansom  cabman  upon  its 
roof.  The  torch-bearer  raises  his  cresset  as  we  steam  up  to  the  bank, 
and  plants  it  in  a  socket,  when  a  hawser  is  seized  round  a  tree,  and  the 
crew  turn  ashore  to  "  wood  up."    Theie  is  a  steep  high  bank  above  us, 


30  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

and  while  dusky  forms  are  flitting  to  and  fro  with  food  for  our  furnace, 
we  survey  a  hmg  stair-way  ascending  the  bank  at  a  sharp  angle  in  a  cut, 
which  is  lost  in  the  sheds  that  crown  the  eminence  over-head.  This 
stair  is  flanked  on  either  side  by  the  bars  of  an  iron  tram-way,  up  whicli 
freight  is  hauled  v;hen  landed,  and  parallel  to  it  is  a  wooden  slide,  down 
which  bales  of  cotton  and  sacks  of  corn  are  shot  upon  the  steamer.  One 
or  two  passengers  slowly  ascend,  and  a  voice  in  the  air  notifies  us  that 
a  team  is  at  hand  with  a  load  of  ladies,  who  shortly  after  are  seen  pick- 
ing their  way  down  the  flight  of  steps.  The  cresset  is  constantly  re- 
plenished with  fresh  light-wood,  and  the  shadows  cast  by  its  flickering 
flame  make  us  regret  that  we  have  not  with  us  a  Turner  to  preserve  this 
scene,  which  would  have  been  a  study  for  Rembrandt  or  Salvator  Rosa. 

At  midnight  we  halt  for  a  couple  of  hours  at  Selma,  a  "  rising  town," 
which  has  taken  a  start  of  late,  owing  to  the  arrival  of  a  branch  railw^ay 
that  connects  it  with  Tennessee  and  the  Mississippi  River.  Here  a 
huge  embarcadere,  sevei-al  stories  high,  seems  fastened  to  the  side  of  the 
bank,  and  affords  us  an  opportunity  of  stepping  out  from  either  story  of 
the  Southern  Republic  upon  a  corresponding  landing.  Upon  one  of 
these  floors  there  are  hackmen  and  hotel  runners,  competing  for  those 
who  land,  and  indicating  the  proximity  of  a  town,  if  not  a  city.  Oar 
captain  had  resolved  upon  making  but  a  short  stay,  in  lieu  of  tying  up 
until  morning — his  usual  practice — when  an  acquaintance  comes  on  board 
and  begs  him  to  wait  an  hour  for  a  couple  of  ladies  and  some  children 
whom  he  will  hunt  np  a  mile  or  so  out  of  town.  Times  are  hard,  and 
the  captain  very  cheerfully  consents,  not  insensable  to  the  flattering  in- 
sinuation, "  You  know  our  folks  never  go  with  any  one  but  you,  if  they 
can  help  it." 

The  next  day  and  evening  are  a  repetition  of  the  foregoing  scenes, 
with  more  plantations  in  view,  and  a  general  air  of  tillage  and  prosper- 
ity. We  are  struck  by  the  uniformity  of  the  soil,  which  everywhere 
seems  of  inexhaustible  fertility,  and  by  the  unvarying  breadth  of  the 
stream,  which,  but  for  its  constantly  recurring  sinuosities,  might  pass 
for  a  broad  ship-canal.  We  also  remark  that  the  bluflfs  rarely  sink  into 
bottoms  susceptible  of  overflow,  and  admire  the  verdure  of  the  primi- 
tive forest,  a  tangle  of  mangoliasin  full  flower,  of  laurels,  and  of  various 
oaks  peculiar  to  this  region,  and  which,  though  never  rising  to  the  dig- 
nity of  that  noble  tree  in  higher  latitudes,  are  many  of  them  extremely 
graceful.  All  this  sylva  of  moderate  stature  is  intertwined  with  creepers, 
and  at  intervals  we  see  the  Spanish  moss,  indicating  the  malarious  exha- 
lations of  the  soil  beneath.  The  Indian  corn,  upon  which  1  he  Southern- 
ers rely  piincipally  for  food,  has  attained  a  height  of  two  feet,  and  we 
are  told  that,  in  consequence  of  the  war,  it  is  so\\n  in  greater  breadth 


nCTUEES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  31 

than  usual.  The  cotton  plant  has  but  just  peeped  above  the  earth,  and, 
alludiiio-  to  its  tenderness,  those  around  us  express  anxieties  about  that 
crop,  which,  it  seems,  are  never  allayed  until  it  has  been  picked,  bagged 
and  pressed,  shipped  and  sold. 

As  I  am  not  engaged  upon  an  itinerary,  let  these  sketches  suffice  to 
convey  an  idea  of  the  417  miles  of  winding  river  which  connect  Mont- 
gomery with  Mobile,  to  which  place  the  Southern  Republic  conveyed 
us  in  thirty-five  hours,  stoppings  included. 

One  of  the  Egyptian  pyramids  owes  its  origin  to  the  strange  caprice 
of  a  princess,  and  the  Southern  Republic  is  said  to  have  been  built  with 
the  proceeds  of  an  accidental  "  haul"  of  Gold  Coast  natives,  who  fell 
into  the  net  of  her  enterprising  proprietor.  This  worthy,  born  of  Irish 
parents  in  Milk  street,  is  too  striking  a  type  of  what  the  late  Mr.  Web- 
ster was  wont  to  call  "  a  Northern  man  with  Southern  principles,"  not 
to  deserve  something  more  than  a  passing  notice. 

For  out-and-out  Southern  notions  there  is  nothing  in  Dixie's  Land 
like  the  successful  emigrant  from  the  North  and  East.  Captain 
Meagher  had  at  his  fingers'  ends  all  the  politico-economical  facts  and 
figures  of  the  Southern  side  of  the  question,  and  rested  his  reason 
solely  upon  the  more  sordid  and  material  calculations  of  the  secession- 
ists. It  was  a  question  of  tariff's.  The  North  had,  no  doubt,  provided 
the  protection  of  a  navy,  the  facilities  of  mails,  the  construction  of  forts, 
custom-houses,  and  post-offices,  in  the  South,  and  placed  countless  well- 
paid  offices  at  the  disposal  of  gentlemen  fond  of  elegant  leisure ;  but 
for  all  these  the  South  had  been  paying  more  than  their  value,  and 
when  abolitionists  were  allowed  to  elect  a  sectional  president,  and  the 
system  of  forced  labor,  which  is  the  basis  of  Southern  prosperity,  was 
threatened,  the  South  were  but  too  happy  to  take  a  "  snap  judgment," 
as  in  a  pie  poudre  court,  and  declare  the  federal  compact  forfeited  and 
annulled  forever. 

During  the  long  second  day  of  our  voyage  we  examined  the  faces  of 
the  proletarians,  whose  color  and  constitutions  so  well  adapt  them  for 
the  Cyclopian  realm  of  the  main  deck.  Among  them  we  detect  several 
physiognomies  w^hich  strike  us  as  resembling  seedlings  from  the  Gold 
Coast,  rather  than  the  second  or  third  fruits  of  ancient  transplantation. 
A  fellow-traveller  gratifies,  at  the  same  time,  our  curiosity  and  our  pen- 
etration. There  are  several  native  Africans,  or,  as  they  are  called  in 
Cuba,  homes,  on  board.  They  are  the  property  of  the  argumentative 
captain,  and  were  acquired  by  a  coup  de  main,  at  which  I  have  already 
hinted  in  this  letter.  It  seems  that  a  club  of  planters  in  this  state  and 
one  or  two  others  resolved,  little  more  than  a  year  ago,  to  import  a 
cargo  of  Africans.     They  were  influenced  partly  by  cupidity  and  partly 


32  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

by  a  fancy  to  set  the  United  States  laws  at  defiance,  and  to  evince 
their  contempt  for  New  England  philanthropy.  The  job  was  accepted 
by  an  Eastern  house,  which  engaged  to  deliver  the  cargo  at  a  certain 
Tvoint  on  the  coast  within  certain  limits  of  time. 

Whether  the  shipment  arrived  earlier  than  anticipated,  or  whether 
3aptain  Meagher  was  originally  designated  as  the  person  to  whom  the 
bold  and  delicate  manoeuvre  of  landing  them  should  be  intrusted,  it  is 
certain  that  on  a  certain  Sunday  in  last  July  he  took  a  little  coasting 
trip  in  his  steamer  Czar,  and  appeared  at  Mobile  on  the  following 
morning  in  season  to  make  his  regular  voyage  up  river.  It  is  no  less 
certain  that  he  ran  the  dusky  strangers  in  at  night  by  an  unfrequented 
pass,  and  landed  them  among  the  cane-brakes  of  his  own  plantation 
">yith  sufficient  celerity  to  be  back  at  the  moorings  of  the  Czar  without 
]  is  absence  having  been  noticed.  The  vessel  from  which  the  bonzes 
were  delivered  were  scuttled  and  sunk,  and  her  master  and  crew  found 
their  way  North  by  rail. 

But  the  parties  in  interest  soon  claimed  to  divide  the  spoils,  when, 
to  their  infinite  disgust,  the  enterprising  captain  very  coolly  professed 
to  ignore  the  whole  business,  and  defied  them  to  seek  to  recover  by  suit 
at  law  property  the  importation  of  which  was  regarded  and  would  be 
ounished  as  felony,  if  not  as  piracy,  by  the  judicial  tribunals.  A  case 
was  made,  and  issue  joined,  when  the  captain  proved  a  circumstantial 
alibi,  and,  having  cast  the  claimants,  doled  them  out  a  few  bonzes,  per- 
haps to  escape  assassination,  as  shells,  Avhile  he  kept  the  oyster  in  the 
shape  of  the  pick  of  the  importation,  which  he  still  holds,  reconciling 
his  conscience  to  the  transaction  by  interpreting  it  as  salvage. 

All  this  is  told  us  by  our  interlocutor,  who  was  one  of  the  losers  by 
the  affair,  and  who  stigmatized  the  conduct  of  its  hero  as  having  been 
'.reacherous.  The  latter,  after  repeated  jocular  inquiries,  suffers  his 
vanity  to  subdue  his  reticence,  and  finishes  by  "  acknowledging  the 
-^orn." 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  we  meet  two  steamers  ascending 
;he  river  with  heavy  cargoes,  and  are  told  that  they  are  the  Keyes  and 
\.he  Lewis,  recently  warned  off  and  not  seized  by  the  blockading  squad- 
■^on  off  Pensacola.  They  are  deep  with  provisions  for  the  forces  of  the 
Confederate  States  army  before  Pickens,  which  must  now  be  dispatch- 
id  from  Montgomery  by  rail. 

In  Mobile,  for  the  first  time  since  leaving  Washington,  "  we  realize" 

'he  entire  stagnation  of  business.     There  are  but  five  vessels  in  port, 

;uiefly  English,  which  will  suffice  to  carry  away  the  debris  of  the  cotton 

rop.     Exchange  on  the  North  is  unsalable,  owing  to  the  impossibility 

:>f  importing  coin  through  the  unsettled  country.     And  bills  on  Lon- 


nCTUKES    OF    SOUTIIERX    LIFE.  33 


don  are  of  slow  sale  at  par,  which  would  leave  a  profit  of  seven  per  cent, 
upon  the  importation  of  gold  fr6m  your  side. 


Mobile,  Sunday,  May  12. 
The  heat  of  the  city  rendered  an  excursion  to  which  I  was  invited, 
for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the  forts  at  the  entrance  of  the  bay,  exceed- 
ingly agreeable,  and  I  was  glad  to  get  out  from  the  smell  of  warm 
bricks  to  the  breezy  waters  of  the  sea.  The  party  comprised  many  of 
the  leading  merchants  and  politicians  of  this  city,  which  is  the  third  in 
importance  as  a  port  of  exportation  in  the  United  States  of  America. 
There  was  not  a  man  among  them  who  did  not  express,  with  more  or 
less  determination,  the  resolve  never  to  submit  to  the  rule  of  the  ac- 
cursed North.  Let  there  be  no  mistake  whatever  as  to  the  unauimity 
which  exists  at  present  in  the  South  to  fight  for  what  it  calls  its  inde- 
pendence, and  to  carry  on  a  war  to  the  knife  with  the  government  of 
the  United  States.  I  have  frequently  had  occasion  to  remark  the  cu- 
rious operation  of  the  doctrine  of  state  rights  on  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple; but  an  examination  of  the  institutions  of  the  country  as  they 
actually  exist  leads  to  the  inference  that,  where  the  tyranny  of  the  ma- 
jority is  at  once  irresponsible  and  cruel,  it  is  impossible  for  any  man, 
where  the  doctrine  prevails,  to  resist  it  with  safety  or  success.  It  is  the 
inevitable  result  of  the  action  of  this  majority,  as  it  operates  in  Amer- 
ica, first  to  demoralize  and  finally  to  absorb  the  minority ;  and  even 
those  who  have  maintained  what  are  called  "  Union  doctrines,"  and 
who  arc  opposed  to  secession  or  revolution,  have  bowed  their  heads  be- 
fore the  majesty  of  the  mass,  and  have  hastened  to  signify  their  acqui- 
escence in  the  decisions  which  they  have  hitherto  opposed.  The 
minority,  cowardly  in  consequence  of  the  arbitrary  and  vindictive  char- 
acter of  the  overwhelming  power  against  which  it  has  struggled,  and 
disheartened  by  defeat,  of  which  the  penalties  arc  tremendous  in  such 
conflicts  as  these,  hastens  to  lick  the  feet  of  the  conqueror,  and  rushes 
with  frantic  cheers  after  the  chariot  in  the  triumph  which  celebrates  its 
own  humiliation.  If  there  be  a  minority  at  all  on  this  great  question 
of  secession  in  the  Southern  states,  it  hides  in  holes  and  corners  inac- 
cessible to  the  light  of  day,  and  sits  there  in  darkness  and  in  sorrow, 
silent  and  fearful,  if  not  dumb  and  hopeless.  There  were  oflBcers  who 
had  served  with  distinction  under  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  now 
anxious  to  declare  that  it  was  not  their  flag,  and  that  they  had  no  aflec- 
tion  for  it,  although  they  were  ready  to  admit  they  would  have  con- 
tinued to  serve  under  it  if  their  states  had  not  gone  out.  A  man's 
state,  in  fact,  under  the  operation  of  these  majority  doctrines  to  which 

9* 


34  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

I  have  adverted,  holds  hostages  for  his  fidelity  to  the  majority,  not  only 
ill  such  land  or  fortune  as  he  may  possess  within  her  bounds,  but  in  his 
family,  his  relatives  and  kin,  and  if  the  state  revolts,  the  officer  who  re- 
mains faithful  to  the  flag  of  the  United  States  is  considered  by  the 
authorities  of  the  revolting  state  a  traitor,  and,  what  is  worse,  he  is 
treated  in  the  persons  of  those  he  leaves  behind  him  as  the  worst  kind 
of  political  renegade.  General  Scott,  but  a  few  months  ago  the  most 
honored  of  men  in  a  republic  which  sets  such  store  on  military  success, 
is  now  i-eviled  and  abused  because,  being  a  Virginian  by  birth,  he  did 
not  immediately  violate  his  oath,  abandon  his  post,  and  turn  to  fight 
against  the  flag  which  he  has  illustrated  by  repeated  successes,  during 
a  career  of  half  a  century,  the  moment  his  state  passed  an  ordinance  of 
secession. 

An  intelligent  and  accomplished  officer,  Avho  accompanied  me  to-day 
around  the  forts  under  his  command,  told  me  that  he  had  all  along 
resisted  secession,  but  that  when  his  state  went  out  he  felt  it  was  neces- 
sary to  resign  his  commission  in  the  United  States  army,  and  to  take 
service  with  the  confederates.  Among  the  most  determined  opponents 
of  the  North,  and  the  most  vehement  friends  of  what  are  called  here 
"  domestic  institutions,"  are  the  British  i-esidents,  English,  Irish  and 
Scotch,  who  have  settled  here  for  trading  purposes,  and  who  are  fre- 
quently slave-holders.  These  men  have  no  state  rights  to  uphold,  but 
they  are  convinced  of  the  excellence  of  things  as  they  are,  or  find  it 
their  interest  to  be  so. 

The  waters  of  two  rivers  fall  into  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Mobile, 
which  is,  in  fact,  a  narrow  sea-creek,  between,  low  sandy  banks  covered 
with  pine  and  forest  trees,  broken  here  and  there  into  islands,  extending 
some  thirty  miles  inland,  with  a-  breadth  varying  from  three  to  seven 
miles.  No  attempt  has  been  made,  apparently,  to  improve  the  waters, 
or  to  provide  docks  or  wharfage  for  the  numerous  cotton  ships  which 
lie  out  at  the  mouth  of  the  bay,  more  than  twenty  five  miles  from  Mo- 
bile. All  the  cotton  has  to  be  sent  down  to  them  in  lighters,  and  the 
nnmber  of  men  thus  employed  in  the  cotton  season  is  loading  the 
barges,  navigating,  and  transferring  the  cargoes  to  the  ships,  is  very  con- 
siderable, and  their  rate  of  wages  is  high. 

The  horror  entertained  by  a  merchant  captain  of  the  shore  is  well 
known,  and  the  skippers  are  delighted  at  an  anchorage  so  far  from  land, 
which  at  the  same  time  detains  the  crews  in  the  ships  and  prevents 
"  running."  At  present  there  are  but  seven  ships  at  the  anchorage? 
ncaj'ly  all  British,  and  one  of  the  latter  appears  in  the  distance  hard  and 
fast  ashore,  though  whether  she  got  there  in  consequence  of  the  lights 
not  being  burning  or  from  neglect  it  is  impossible  to  say.     Fort  Gaines, 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFi:.  35 

on  the  right  hank  of  the  channel,  near  the  entrance,  is  an  unfinished 
shell  of  a  fort,  which  was  commenced  by  the  United  States  engineers 
some  time  ago,  and  which  it  would  not  be  easy  to  finish  without  a  large 
outlay  of  money  and  labor.  It  is  not  well  placed  to  resist  either  a  land 
attack  or  an  assault  by  boats.  A  high  "sand-bank  in  front  of  one  of  the 
faces  screens  the  fire,  and  a  wood  on  another  side,  if  occupied  by  rifle- 
men, would  render  it  difficult  to  work  the  barbette  guns.  It  is  not 
likely,  however,  that  the  fort  will  be  attacked.  The  channel  it  com- 
mands is  only  fit  for  light  vessels.  From  this  fort  to  the  other  side  of 
the  channel,  where  Fort  Morgan  stands,  the  distance  is  over  three  miles, 
and  the  deep-water  channel  is  close  to  the  latter  fort.  The  position  of 
the  Gaines  is  held  by  a  strong  body  of  Alabama  troops — stout,  sturdy 
men,  who  have  volunteered  from  farm,  field,  or  desk.  They  are  armed 
with  ordinary  muskets  of  the  old  pattern,  and  their  uniform  is  by  no 
means  uniform ;  but  the  men  look  fit  for  service.  The  fort  would  take 
a  garrison  of  five  hundred  men  if  fully  mounted,  but  the  parapets  are 
mere  partition  walls  of  brickwork  crenellated ;  the  bomb-proofs  are 
unfinished,  and,  but  for  a  few  guns  mounted  on  the  sand-hills,  the  place 
is  a  defenceless  shell-trap.  There  are  no  guns  in  the  casemates,  and 
there  is  no  position  ready  to  bear  the  weight  of  a  gun  in  barbette.  The 
guns  which  are  on  the  beach  are  protected  by  sand-bag  traverses,  and 
are  more  formidable  than  the  whole  fortress.  The  steamer  proceeded 
across  the  channel  to  Fort  Morgan,  which  is  a  work  of  considerable 
importance,  and  is  assuming  a  formidable  character  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  Colonel  Hardee,  formerly  of  the  United  States  army.  It  has 
a  regular  trace,  bastion  and  curtain,  with  a  dry  ditch  and  drawbridge, 
well-made  casemates  and  bomb-proofs,  and  a  tolerable  armament  of  co- 
lumbiads,  forty-two  and  thirty-two  pounders,  a  few  ten-inch  mortars,  and 
Hght  guns  in  the  external  works  at  the  salients.  The  store  of  ammu- 
nition seems  ample.  Some  of  the  fuses  are  antiquated,  and  the  gun 
carriages  are  old-fashioned.  The  open  parade  and  the  unprotected 
gorges  of  the  casemates  v/ould  render  the  work  extremely  unpleasant 
under  a  shell  fire,  and  the  buildings  and  barracks  inside  are  at  present 
open  to  the  influences  of  heat.  The  magazines  are  badly  traversed  and 
inadequately  protected.  A  very  simple  and  apparently  efl'ective  contri- 
vance for  dispensing  with  the  use  of  the  sabot  in  shells  was  shown  to 
^  me  by  Colonel  Maury,  the  inventor.  It  consists  of  two  circular  grummets 
i  of  rope,  one  at  the  base  and  the  other  at  the  upper  circumference  of  the 
'  shell,  made  by  a  simple  machinery  to  fit  tightly  to  the  sphere,  and  bound 
together  by  thin  copper  wire.  The  grummets  fit  the  bore  of  the  gun 
exactly,  and  act  as  wads,  allowing  the  base  of  the  shell  to  rest  in  clor^o 
contact  with  the   charge,  and  breaking  into  oakum    oa  leaving   ihe 


:^.(^  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

<  auzzle.  Those  "who  know  what  mischief  can  be  aone  by  the  fragments 
>f  the  sabot  when  fired  over  the  heads  of  troops,  will  appreciate  this 
■imple  invention,  which  is  said  to  give  increased  range  to  the  horizontal 
r^iell.  There  must  be  about  sixty  guns  in  this  work;  it  is  over-garri- 
-ned,  and,  indeed,  it  seems  to  be  the  difficulty  here  to  know  what  to 
,0  with  the  home  volunteers.  Rope  mantlets  are  used  on  the  breeches 
>f  some  of  the  barbette  guns.  At  night  the  harbor  is  in  perfect  dark- 
less. Notwithstanding  the  defences  I  have  indicated,  it  would  be  quite 
>ossible  to  take  Fort  Morgan  with  a  moderate  force,  well  supplied  with 
he  means  of  vertical  fire. 

"  Are  there  many  mosquitos  here  ?"  inquired  I  of  the  waiter  on  the 
;ay  of  my  arrival.  "  Well,  there's  a  few,  I  guess ;  but  I  wish  there 
./ere  ten  times  as  many."  "  In  the  name  of  goodness,  why  do  you  say 
-o  ?"  asked  I,  with  some  surprise  and  indignation.     "  Because  Ave'd  get 

id  of  the  Black  Republicans  out  of  Fort  Pickens  all  the  sooner," 

replied  he.  There  is  a  strange  unilateral  tendency  in  the  minds  of  men 
m  judging  of  the  operation  of  causes  and  results  in  such  a  contest  as 
+hat  which  now  prevails  between  the  North  and  the  South.  The  waiter 
icasoned  and  spoke  like  many  of  his  betters.  The  mosquitos,  for 
rv'hose  aid  he  was  so  anxious,  were  regarded  by  him  as  true  Southerners, 
.ho  would  only  torture  his  enemies.  The  idea  of  these  persecuting 
■jltle  fiends  being  so  unpatriotic  as  to  vex  the  Confederates  in  their 
sandy  camp  never  entered  into  his  mind  for  a  moment.  In  the  same 
way,  a  gentleman  of  intelligence,  who  was  speaking  to  me  of  the  terri- 
ble sufferings  which  would  be  inflicted  on  the  troops  at  Tortugas  and 
at  Pickens  by  fever,  dysentery,  and  summer  heats,  looked  quite  sur- 
prised when  I  asked  him,  "  whether  these  agencies  would  not  prove 
equally  terrible  to  the  troops  of  the  Confederates  ?" 


Mobile,  May  18,  1861. 

I  avail  myself  of  the  departure  of  a  gentleman  who  is  goiug  to  New 
York  by  the  shortest  route  he  can  find,  to  send  you  the  accompanying 
'etters.  The  mails  are  stopped  ;  so  are  the  telegraphs  ;  and  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  I  can  get  to  New  Orleans  by  water.  Of  what  I  saw  at 
Fort  Pickens  and  Pensacola  here  is  an  account,  written  in  a  very  hur- 
ried manner,  and  under  very  peculiar  circumstances. 

Tuesday,  May  14,  1861. 

Two  New  Orleans  gentlemen,  who  came  overland  from  Pensacola 
yesterday,  give  such  an  account  of  their  miseries  from  heat,  dust,  sand, 
and  want  of  accommodation,  in  the  dreary  waste  through  which  they 
}>assed  for  more  than  seventeen  hours,  that  I  sought  out  some  other 
way  of  going  there,  and  at  last  heard  of  a  small  schooner,  called  the 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  Sl 

Diana,  which  would  gladly  undertake  to  run  round  by  sea,  if  permitted 
to  enter  by  the  blockading  squadron. 

She  was  neither  clean  nor  neat  looking;  her  captain,  a  tall,  wild- 
haired  young  man,  had  more  the  air  of  a  mechanic  than  of  a  sailor,  but 
he  knew  his  business  well,  as  the  result  of  the  voyage  showed.  His 
crew  consisted  of  three  men  and  a  negro  cook.  Three  gentlemen  of 
Mobile,  who  were  anxious  to  visit  General  Bragg' s  camp,  agreed  to 
join  me,  but  before  I  sailed  I  obtained  a  promise  that  they  would  not 
violate  the  character  of  neutrals  as  long  as  they  were  with  me,  and  an  as- 
surance that  they  were  not  in  any  way  engaged  in  or  employed  by  the 

Confederate   States  forces.       "  Surely  you  will  not  have  Mr.   R 

hanged,  sir?"  said  the  mayor  of  Mobile  to  me  when  I  told  liitii  I 
could  not  consent  to  pass  off  the  gentleman  in  question  as  a  private 

friend.      "  No,  I  shall  do  nothing  to  get  Mr.  R •  hanged.     It  will  be 

his  own  act  which  causes  it,  but  I  will  not  allow  Mr.  R to  accom- 
pany me  under  false  pretences."  Having  concluded  our  bargain  with 
the  skipper  at  a  tolerably  fair  rate,  and  laid  in  a  stock  of  stores  and 
provisions,  the  party  sailed  from  Mobile  at  five  in  the  evening  of  Tuesday, 
May  14,  with  the  flag  of  the  Confederate  States  flying;  but,  as  a  pre- 
cautionary measure,  I  borrowed  from  our  acting  consul,  Mr.  Magee,  a 
British  ensign,  which,  with  a  flag  of  truce,  would  win  the  favorable 
consideration  of  the  United  States  squadron.  Our  craft,  the  somewhat 
Dutch  build  of  which  gave  no  great  promise  of  speed,  came,  to  our 
surprise  and  pleasure,  up  with  the  lights  of  Fort  Morgan  at  nine  o'clock, 
and  we  were  allowed  to  pass  unchallenged  through  a  "  swash,"  as  a 
narrow  channel  over  the  bar  is  called,  which,  despite  the  absence  of 
beacons  and  buoys,  our  skipper  shot  through  under  the  guidance  of  a 
sounding-pole,  which  gave,  at  various  plunges,  but  a  few  inches  to 
spare. 

The  shore  is  as  flat  as  a  pancake — a  belt  of  white  sand,  covered  with 
drift-logs  and  timber,  and  with  a  pine  forest ;  not  a  home  or  human 
habitation  of  any  sort  to  be  seen  for  forty  miles,  from  Fort  Moro;an  to 
the  entrance  of  the  harbor  of  Pensacola ;  cheerless,  miserable,  full  of 
swamps,  the  haunts  of  aligators,  cranes,  snakes,  and  pelicans;  with 
lagoons,  such  as  the  Perdida,  swelling  into  inland  seas ;  deep  buried  in 
pine  woods,  and  known  only  to  wild  creatures,  and  to  the  old  filibus- 
ters— swarming  with  mosquitos.  As  the  Diana  rushed  along  within  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  of  this  grim  shore,  great  fish  flew  off  from  the  shal- 
lows, and  once  a  shining  gleam  flashed  along  the  waters,  and  winged 
its  way  alongside  the  little  craft — a  monster  shark,  which  ploughed 
through  the  sea  pari  passu  for  some  hundred  yards  leeward  or  the 
craft,  and  distinctly  visible  in  the  wonderful  phosphorescence  around 


38  .    PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

it,  and  then  dashed  away  with  a  trail  of  light  seawerd,  on  some  errand 
of  voracity,  with  tremendous  force  and  vigor.  The  wretched  Spaniards 
who  came  to  this  ill-named  Florida,  must  often  have  cursed  their  stars. 
How  rejoiced  were  they  when  the  government  of  the  United  States 
reheved  them  from  their  dominion!  Once  during  the  night  some 
lights  were  seen  on  shore,  as  if  from  a  camp-fire.  The  skipper  pro- 
posed to  load  an  old  iron  carronade  and  blaze  away  at  them,  and  one 
of  the  party  actually  got  out  his  revolver  to  fire,  but  I  objected  very 
strongly  to  these  valorous  proceedings,  and  suggesting  that  they  might 
be  friends  who  were  there,  and  that,  friends  or  foes,  they  were  sure  to 
return  our  fire,  succeeded  in  calming  the  martial  ardor  on  board  the 
Diana.  The  fires  were  very  probably  made  by  some  of  the  horsemen 
lately  sent  out  by  General  Bragg  to  patrol  the  coast,  but  the  skipper  said 
that  in  all  his  life-long  experience  he  had  never  seen  a  human  creature 
or  a  light  on  that  shore  before.  The  wind  was  so  favorable,  and  the 
Diana  so  fast,  that  she  would  have  run  into  the  midst  of  the  United 
States  squadron  off"  Fort  Pickens  had  she  pursued  her  course.  There- 
fore, when  she  was  within  about  ten  miles  of  the  station  she  hove  to, 
and  lay  off"  and  on  for  about  two  hours.  Before  dawn  the  sails  were 
filled,  and  off  she  went  once  more,  bowling  along  merrily,  till  with  the 
first  blush  of  day  there  came  in  sight  Fort  M'Rae,  Fort  Pickens,  and 
the  masts  of  the  squadron,  just  rising  above  the  blended  horizon  of  low 
shore  and  sea.  The  former,  which  is  on  the  western  shore  of  the  main- 
land, is  in  the  hands  of  the  Confederate  troops.  The  latter  is  just  op- 
fiosite  to  it,  on  the  extremity  of  the  sand-bank,  called  Santa  Rosa 
sland,  which,  for  forty-five  miles  runs  in  a  belt  parallel  to  the  shore  of 
Florida,  at  a  distance  varying  from  one  and  a  quarter  to  four  miles. 
To  make  smooth  water  of  it,  the  schooner  made  several  tacks  shore- 
ward. In  the  second  of  these  tacks  the  subtle  entrance  of  Perdida 
Creek  is  pointed  out,  which,  after  several  serpentine  and  re-entering 
undulations  of  channel,  one  of  which  is  only  separated  from  the  sea 
for  a  mile  or  more  by  a  thin  wall  of  sand-bank,  widens  to  meet  the  dis- 
charge of  a  tolerably  spacious  inland  lake.  The  Perdida  is  the  divid- 
ing line  between  the  states  of  Alabama  and  Florida. 

The  flagstaff  of  Fort  M'Rae  soon  became  visible,  and  in  fainter  out- 
line beyond  it  that  of  Fort  Pickens,  and  the  hulls  of  the  fleet,  in  which 
one  can  make  out  three  war-steamers,  a  frigate,  and  a  sloop-of-war,  and 
^hen  the  sharpset  canvas  of  a  schooner,  the  police  craft  of  this  beat, 
bearing  down  upon  us.  The  skipper,  with  some  uneasiness,  announces 
the  small  schooner  that  is  sailing  in  the  wind's  eye  as  the  "  Oriental," 
and  confesses  to  having  already  been  challenged  and  warned  off  by  her 
sentinel  master.     We  promised  him  immunity  for  the  past  and  safety 


PICTURES    OF   SOUTHERX   LIFE.  39 

for  the  future,  and,  easing  off  the  main  sheet,  he  lays  the  Diana  on  her 
course  for  the  fleet. 

Fort  M'Rae,  one  of  the  obsolete  school  of  fastnesses,  rounds  up  on 
our  left.  Beyond  it,  on  the  shore,  is  Barrancas,  a  square-faced  work, 
half  a  mile  further  up  the  channel,  and  more  immediately  facing  Fort 
Pickens.  A  thick  wood  crowns  the  low  shore,  which  trends  away  to 
the  eastward,  but  amid  the  sand  the  glass  can  trace  the  outlines  of  the 
batteries.  Pretty-looking  detached  houses  line  the  beach  ;  some  loftier 
edifices  gather  close  up  to  the  shelter  of  a  tall  chimney  wdiich  is  vomit- 
ing out  clouds  of  smoke,  and  a  few  masts  and  spars  checker  the  w^hite 
fronts  of  the  large  buildings  and  sheds,  which,  with  a  big  shears,  indi- 
cate the  position  of  the  navy-yard  of  Warrington,  commonly  called  that 
of  Pensacola,  although  the  place  of  that  name  lies  several  miles  higher 
up  the  creek.  Fort  M'Rae  seems  to  have  sunk  at  the  foundations  ;  the 
crowns  of  many  of  the  casemates  are  cracked,  and  the  water-face  is 
poor  looking.  Fort  Pickens,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  solid,  substantial- 
looking  work,  and  reminds  one  something  of  Fort  l^aul  at  Sebastopol, 
as  seen  from  the  sea,  except  that  it  has  only  one  tier  of  casemates,  and 
is  not  so  high. 

As  the  Oriental  approaches,  the  Diana  throws  her  foresail  aback, 
and  the  pretty  little  craft,  with  a  full-sized  United  States  ensign 
flying,  and  the  muzzle  of  a  brass  howitzer  peeping  ov^er  her  forecastle, 
ranges  up  luff,  and  taking  an  easy  sweep  lies  to  alongside  us.  A  boat 
is  lowered  from  her  and  is  soon  alongside,  steered  by  an  officer ;  her 
crew  are  armed  to  the  teeth  with  pistols  and  cutlasses.  "  Ah,^I  think 
I  have  seen  you  before.  What  schooner  is  this  ?"  "  The  Diana,  from 
Mobile."  The  officer  steps  on  deck,  and  announces  himself  as  Mr. 
Brown,  master  in  the  United  States  navy,  in  charge  of  the  boarding 
vessel  Oriental.  The  crew  secure  their  boat  and  step  up  after  him. 
The  skipper,  looking  very  sulky,  hands  his  papers  to  the  officer. 
"  Now,  sir,  make  sail,  and  lie  to  under  the  quarter  of  that  steamer, 
the  guardship  Powhatan." 

Mr.  Brown  was  exceedingly  courteous  when  he  heard  who  the  party 
were.  The  Mobilians,  however,  looked  as  black  as  thunder ;  nor  were 
they  at  all  better  pleased  when  they  heard  the  skipper  ask  if  he  did 
not  know  there  was  a  strict  blockade  of  the  port.  The  Powhatan  is  a 
paddle  steamer  of  2,200  tuns  and  ten  guns,  and  is  known  to  our  service 
as  the  llag-ship  of  Commodore  Tatnall,  in  Chinese  waters,  when  that 
gallant  veteran  gave  us  timely  and  kindly  proof  of  the  truth  of  his  well- 
knowm  expression,  "Blood  is  thicker  than  water."  Upon  her  spar- 
deck  there  is  a  stout,  healthy-looking  crew,  which  seems  quite  able  to 
attend  to  her  armament   of  ten  heavy  ten-inch  Dahlo;ren  columbiads. 


40  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

and  the  formidable  eleven-inclies  of  the  same  family  on  the  forecastle. 
Her  commander,  Captain  Porter,  though  only  a  lieutenant  command- 
ing, has  seen  an  age  of  active  service,  both  in  the  navy  and  in  the 
merchant  steam  marine  service,  to  which  he  was  detailed  for  six  or 
seven  years  after  the  discovery  of  California.  The  party  were  ushered 
into  the  cabin,  and  Captain  Porter  received  them  with  perfect  courtesy, 
heard  our  names  and  object,  and  then  entered  into  general  conversation, 
in  wdiich  the  Mobilians,  thawed  by  his  sailorly  frankness,  gradually 
joined,  as  well  as  they  could.  Over  and  over  again  I  must  acknowl- 
edge the  exceeding  politeness  and  civility  with  which  your  corre- 
spondent has  been  received  by  the  authorities  on  both  sides  in  this 
unhappy  war. 

Though  but  little  beyond  the  age  of  forty,  Captain  Porter  has  been 
long  enough  in  the  navy  to  have  imbibed  some  of  those  prejudices  which 
by  the  profane  are  stigmatized  as  fogyisms.  Until  the  day  previous 
he  had,  he  told  me,  felt  disposed  to  condemn  rifled  cannon  of  a  small 
calibre  as  "gimcracks,"  but  had  been  ]-apidly  converted  to  the  "Arm- 
strong faith"  by  the  following  experiment.  He  was  making  target 
practice  with  his  heavy  gun  at  a  distance  of  some  2,600  yards.  At 
any  thing  like  a  moderate  elevation  the  experiment  was  unsatisfactory, 
and  while  his  gunners  were  essaying  to  harmonize  cause  and  effect,  the 
charge  and  the  elevation,  he  bethought  him  of  a  little  rifled  brass  play- 
thing which  Captain  Dahlgren  had  sent  on  board  a  day  or  two  before  his 
departure.  To  his  astonishment  the  ball,  after  careering  until  he 
thought  "it  would  never  stop  going,"  struck  the  water  1,000  yards 
beyond  the  target,  and  established  a  reputation  he  had  never  believed 
possible  for  a  howitzer  of  six-pound  calibre  carrying  a  twelve-pound 
bolt.  He  observed  that  the  ancient  walls  of  Fort  M'Rae  would  not 
resist  this  new  missile  for  half  an  hour. 

If  it  comes  to  fighting  you  will  hear  more  of  the  Powhatan  and 
Captain  Porter.  He  has  been  repeatedly  in  the  harbor  and  along  the 
enemy's  works  at  night  in  his  boat,  and  knows  their  position  thoroughly, 
and  he  showed  me  on  his  chart  the  various  spots  marked  off"  whence  he 
can  sweep  their  works  and  do  them  immense  mischief.  "  The  Pow- 
hatan is  old,  and  if  she  sinks  I  can't  help  it."  She  is  all  ready  for  ac- 
tion ;  boarding  nettings  triced  up,  field-pieces  and  howitzers  prepared 
against  night  boarding,  and  the  whole  of  her  bows  padded  internally, 
with  dead  wood  and  sails,  so  as  to  prevent  her  main  deck  being  raked 
as  she  stands  stern  on  toward  the  forts.  Her  crew  are  as  fine  a  set  of 
men  as  I  have  seen  of  late  days  on  board  a  man-of-war.  They  are 
healthy,  well  fed,  regularly  paid,  and  can  be  relied  on  to  do  their  duty 
to  a  man.     As  far  as  I  could  judge,  the  impression  of  the  oflScers  was, 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  41 

that  General  Bragg  would  not  be  rash  enough  to  expose  himself  to  the 
heavy  chastisement  which,  in  their  belief,  awaits  him  if  he  is  rash 
enough  to  open  fire  upon  Fort  Pickens.  As  Captain  Porter  is  not  the 
senior  officer  of  the  fleet,  he  signaled  to  the  flag-ship,  and  was  desired 
to  send  us  on  board. 

One  more  prize  has  been  made  this  morning — a  little  schooner  with 
a  crew  of  Italians  and  laden  with  vegetables.  This  master,  a  Roman 
of  Civita  Yecchia,  pretends  to  be  in  great  trouble,  in  order  to  squeeze 
a  good  price  out  of  the  captain  for  his  "  tuttl  fruti  e  cosi  diver  si. '^ 
The  officers  assured  me  that  all  the  statements  made  by  the  coasting 
skippers  when  they  return  to  port  from  the  squadron,  are  lies  from  be- 
ginning to  end. 

A  ten-oared  barge  carried  the  party  to  the  United  States  frigate 
Sabine,  on  board  of  which  Flag-Captain  Adams  hoists  his  pennant* 
On  our  way  we  had  a  fair  view  of  the  Brooklyn,  whose  armament  of 
22  heavy  guns  is  said  to  be  the  most  formidable  battery  in  the  Ameri- 
can navy.  Her  anti-type,  the  Sabine,  an  old-fashioned  fifty-gun  frigate, 
as  rare  an  object  upon  modern  seas  as  an  old  post-coach  is  upon  mod- 
ern roads,  is  reached  at  last.  As  one  treads  her  decks,  the  eyes,  ac- 
customed for  so  many  weeks  to  the  outlandish  uniforms  of  brave  but 
undisciplined  Southern  volunteers,  feel  en  pays  cle  connaissance^  when 
they  rest  upon  the  solid  mass  of  300  or  400  quid-rolling,  sunburnt,  and 
resolute-looking  blue-shirted  tars,  to  whom  a  three  years'  cruise  has 
imparted  a  family  aspect  which  makes  them  almost  as  hard  to  distin- 
guish apart  as  so  many  Chinamen. 

A  believer  in  the  serpent-symbol  might  feel  almost  tempted  to  regard 
the  log  of  the  Sabine  as  comprising  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega  of,  at 
least,  the  last  half-century  of  the  American  republic.  Her  keel  was 
laid  shortly  after  our  last  war  with  Brother  Jonathan,  and  so  long  as 
the  temple  of  Janus  remained  closed — her  size  having  rendered  her 
unfit  to  participate  in  what  is  called  the  Mexican  war — she  remained 
in  the  ship-house  of  the  navy-yard  which  had  witnessed  her  baptism. 
In  the  year  1858  she  was  summoned  from  her  retirement  to  officiate  as 
flag-ship  of  the  "  Paraguay  expedition,"  and,  after  having  conveyed  the 
American  commissioner  to  Montevideo,  whence  he  proceeded  with 
a  flotilla  of  steamers  and  sloops-of-war  up  to  Corrientes,  and  thence 
in  the  temporary  flag-ship,  the  steamer  Fulton,  to  Assumpcion,  she 
brought  him  back  to  New  York  in  May,  1859,  and  was  then  dis- 
patched to  complete  her  cruise  as  part  of  the  home  squadron  in  the 
Caribbean  Sea  and  Gulf  of  Mexico.  During  the  concluding  months  of 
her  cruise  the  political  complications  of  the  North  and  South  burst 
into  the  present  rupture,  and  the  day  before  our  visit  one  of  her  lieu- 


42  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

tenants,  a  North  Carolinian,  had  left  her  to  espouse,  as  nearly  all  the 
Southern  ofricers  of  both  army  and  navy  have  done,  the  cause  of  his 
native  state.  Captain  Adams  is  in  a  still  more  painful  predicament. 
During  his  eventful  voyage,  which  commenced  with  a  six  days'  ex- 
perience in  the  terrible  Bermuda  cyclone  of  November,  1858,  he  had 
been  a  stranger  to  the  bitter  sectional  animosities  engendered  by  the 
last  election;  and  had  recently  joined  the  blockade  of  this  port,  where 
he  finds  a  son  enlisted  in  the  ranks  of  the  C.  S.  A.,  and  learns  that  two 
others  form  part  of  the  Virginia  division  of  Mr.  Jefterson  Davis's  forces. 
Born  in  Pennsylvania,  he  married  in  Louisiana,  where  he  has  a  planta- 
tion and  the  remainder  of  his  family,  and  he  smiles  grimly  as  one  of 
our  companions  brings  him  the  playful  message  from  his  daughter, 
who  has  been  elected  v'tvandiere  of  a  New  Orleans  regiment,  "  that  she 
trusts  he  may  be  starved  while  blockading  the  South,  and  that  she  in- 
tends to  push  on  to  Washington  and  get  a  lock  of  Old  Abe's  hair" — 
a  Sioux  lady  would  have  said  his  scalp. 

The  veteran  sailor's  sad  story  demands  deep  sympathy.  I,  however, 
cannot  help  enjoying  at  least  the  variety  of  hearing  a  little  of  the  altera 
pars.  It  is  now  nearh'  six  weeks  since  I  entered  "  Dixie's  Land,"  dur- 
ing which  period  I  must  confess  I  have  had  a  sufficiency  of  the  music 
and  drums,  the  cavaliering  and  the  roystering  of  the  Southern  gallants. 
As  an  impartial  obser\  er,  I  may  say  I  find  less  bitterness  and  denuncia- 
tion, but  quite  as  dogged  a  resolution  upon  the  Roundhead  side.  Some 
experience,  or  at  least  observation  of  the  gunpowder  aigument,  has 
taught  us  that  attack  is  always  a  more  grateful  office  than  defence,  and, 
if  we  are  to  judge  of  the  sturdy  resolution  of  the  inmates  of  Fort 
Pickens  by  the  looks  of  the  ofiicers  and  crews  of  the  fleet.  Fort  Pickens 
will  fall  no  easy  prize,  if  at  all. 

After  some  conversation  with  Captain  Adams,  and  the  ready  hospi- 
tality of  his  cabin,  he  said  finally  he  would  take  on  himself  to  permit 
me  and  the  party  to  land  at  the  navy-yard,  and  to  visit  the  enemy's 
quarters,  relying  on  my  character  as  a  neutral  and  a  subject  of  Great 
Britain  that  no  improper  advantage  would  be  taken  of  the  permission. 
Li  giving  that  leave  he  was,  he  said,  well  aware  that  he  was  laying  him- 
self open  to  attack,  but  he  acted  on  his  own  judgment  and  responsibility. 
AVe  must,  however,  hoist  a  flag  of  truce,  as  he  had  been  informed  by 
General  Bragg  that  he  considered  the  intimation  he  had  received  from 
the  fleet  of  the  blockade  of  the  port  was  a  declaration  of  war,  and  that 
he  would  fire  on  any  vessel  from  the  fleert  which  approached  his  com- 
mand. I  bade  good-by  to  Captain  Adams  with  sincere  regret,  and  if — 
but  I  may  not  utter  the  wish  here.  Our  barge  was  waiting  to  take  us 
to  the  Oriental,  in  which  we  sailed  pleasantly  away  down  to  the  Powlia- 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  43 

tan  to  inform  Captain  Porter  I  had  received  permission  to  go  on  shore. 
Another  ofticer  was  in  his  cabin  when  I  entered — Captain  Poore  of  the 
Brooklyn — and  lie  seemed  a  little  surprised  when  he  heard  that  Captain 
Adams  had  given  leave  to  all  to  go  on  shore.  "  What,  all  these  editors 
of  Southern  newspapers  who  are  with  you,  sir  ?"  I  assured  him  they 
were  nothing  of  the  kind,  and  after  a  few  kind  words  I  made  my  adieu, 
and  went  on  board  the  Diana  with  my  companions. 

Hoisting  one  of  our  only  two  table-cloths  to  the  masthead  as  a  flag 
of  truce,  we  dropped  slowly  with  the  tide  through  the  channel  that  runs 
parallel  to  one  face  of  Fort  Pickens.  The  wind  favored  us  but  little, 
and  the  felling  breeze  enabled  all  on  board  to  inspect  deliberately  the 
seemingly  artistic  preparations  for  the  threatened  attack  which  frowns 
and  bristles  from  three  miles  of  forts  and  batteries  arrayed  around  the 
slight  indenture  opposite.  Heavy  sand-bag  traverses  protect  the  coiners 
of  the  parapets,  and  seem  solid  enough  to  defy  the  batteries  ensconced 
in  earthworks  around  the  lighthouse,  which  to  an  outside  glance  seems 
the  most  formidable  point  of  attack,  directed  as  it  is  against  the  weaker 
flank  of  the  fort  at  its  most  vulnerable  angle. 

A  few  soldiers  and  officers  upon  the  rampart  appeared  to  be  inhaling 
the  freshening  breeze  which  arose  to  waft  the  schooner  across  the  chan- 
nel, and  enable  her  to  coast  the  main-shore,  so  that  all  could  take  note 
of  the  necklace  of  bastions,  earthworks,  and  columbiads  with  which 
General  Bragg  hopes  to  throttle  his  adversary.  We  passed  by  Barran- 
cas, the  nearest  point  of  attack  (a  mile  and  a  quarter),  the  commander- 
in-chiefs  head-quarters,  the  barracks,  and  the  hospital  successively,  and 
as  the  vessel  approached  the  landing-pier  of  the  navy-yard  one  could 
hear  the  bustle  of  the  military  and  the  hammers  of  the  artificers,  and 
descr}'  the  crimson  and  blue  trappings  of  Zouaves,  recalling  Crimean 
reminiscences.  A  train  of  heavy  tumbrils,  drawn  by  three  or  four  pairs 
of  mules,  was  the  first  indication  of  a  transport  system  in  the  army  of 
the  Confederate  States,  and  the  high-bred  chargers  mounted  by  the 
escorts  of  these  ammunition  wagons  corroborated  the  accounts  of  the 
wealth  and  breeding  of  its  volunteer  cavalry.  The  Diana  now  skirted 
the  navy -yard,  the  neat  dwellings  of  which,  and  the  profusion  of  orange 
and  fig  groves  in  which  they  are  embosomed,  have  an  aspect  of  tropical 
shade  and  repose,  much  at  variance  with  the  stern  preparations  before 
us.  Our  skipper  let  go  his  anchor  at  a  respectful  distance  from  the 
quay,  evincing  a  regard  for  martial  law  that  contrasted  strangely  with 
the  impatience  of  control  elsew-here  manifested  throughout  this  land, 
and  almost  inspiring  the  belief  that  no  other  rule  can  ever  restore  the 
lost  bump  of  veneration  to  American  craniology. 

While  the  master  of  the  Diana  was  skulling  his  leaky  punt  ashore  to 


44  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

convey  my  letters  of  introduction  to  the  commander-in-cliief,  I  had 
leisure  to  survey  the  long,  narrow,  low  sand-belt  of  the  island  opposite, 
which  loses  itself  in  the  distance,  and  disappears  in  the  ocean  forty-seven 
miles  from  Fort  Pickens.  It  is  so  nearly  level  with  the  sea  that  I  could 
make  out  the  mainyards  of  the  Sabine  and  the  Brooklyn,  anchored  out- 
side the  island  within  range  of  the  navy-yard,  which  is  destined  to  receive 
immediate  attention  whenever  the  attack  shall  begin.  Pursuing  my  re- 
flections upon  the  morale  of  the  upper  and  nether  millstones  between 
which  the  Diana  is  moored,  I  am  sadly  puzzled  by  the  anomalous  ethics 
or  metaphysics  of  this  singular  war,  the  preparations  for  which  vary  so 
essentially — it  were  sin  to  say  ludicrously — from  all  ancient  and  modern 
belligerent  usages.  Here  we  have  an  important  fortress,  threatened 
with  siege  for  the  last  sixty  days,  suifering  the  assailants  of  the  flag  it 
defends  to  amass  battery  upon  battery,  and  string  the  whole  coast  of 
low  hills  opposite  with  every  variety  of  apparatus  for  its  own  devasta- 
tion, without  throwing  a  timely  shell  to  prevent  their  establishment. 

War  has  been  virtually  declared,  since  letters  of  marque  and  a  corre- 
sponding blockade  admit  of  no  other  interpretation,  and  yet  but  last 
week  two  Mobile  steamers,  laden  with  £50,000  worth  of  provisions  for 
the  beleaguering  camp,  were  stopped  by  the  blockading  fleet,  and, 
though  not  permitted  to  enter  this  harboi-,  were  allowed  to  return  to 
Mobile  untouched,  the  commander  thinking  it  quite  punishment  enough 
for  the  rebels  to  thus  compel  them  to  return  to  Mobile,  and  carry  up 
the  Alabama  river  to  Montgomery  this  mass  of  eatables,  which  would 
have  to  be  dispatched  thence  by  rail  to  this  place !  Such  practical 
jokes  lend  a  tinge  of  innocence  to  the  premonitories  of  this  strife  which 
will  hardly  survive  the  first  bloodshed. 

The  skipper  returned  from  shore  with  an  orderly,  who  brought  the 
needful  permission  to  haul  the  Diana  alongside  the  wdiarf,  where  I 
landed,  and  was  conducted  by  an  aid  of  the  quartermaster-general 
through  the  shady  streets  of  this  graceful  little  village,  whicli  covers  an 
enclosure  of  300  acres,  and,  with  the  adjoining  forts,  cost  the  United 
States  over  £6,000,000  sterling,  which  may  have  something  to  do  with 
the  President's  determination  to  hold  a  property  under  so  heavy  an 
hypothecation.  Irish  landlords,  with  encumbered  estates,  have  no  such 
simple  mode  of  obtaining  an  acquittal. 

The  navy-yard  is,  pi-operly  speaking,  a  settlement  of  exceedingly 
neat  detached  houses,  with  gardens  in  front,  porticoes,  pillars,  verandahs, 
and  Venetian  blinds  to  aid  the  dense  trees  in  keeping  off  the  scorching 
rays  of  the  sun,  which  is  intensely  powerful  in  the  summer,  and  is  now 
blazing  so  fiercely  as  to  force  one  to  admit  the  assertion  that  the  average 
temperature  is  as  high  as  that  of  Calcutta  to  be  very  probable.     The 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  45 

grass-plots  under  these  trees  are  covered  with  neat  piles  of  cannon- 
balls,  mostly  of  small  size;  two  obsolete  mortars — one  dated  1776 — are 
placed  in  the  main  avenue.  Tents  are  pitched  under  the  trees,  and  the 
housed  are  all  occupied  by  officers,  who  are  chatting,  smoking,  and 
drinking  at  the  open  windows.  A  number  of  men  in  semi-military 
dresses  of  various  sorts  and  side-arms  are  lounging  about  the  quays  and 
the  lawns  before  the  houses.  Into  one  of  these  1  am  escorted,  and  find 
myself  at  a  very  pleasant  mess,  of  whom  the  greater  number  are  officers 
of  the  Zouave  corps,  from  New  Orleans — one,  a  Dane,  has  served  at 
Idstedt,  Kiel,  Frederichstadt ;  another  foreigner  has  seen  service  in 
South  America ;  another  has  fought  in  half  the  insurrectionary  wars  in 
Europe.  The  wine  is  abundant,  the  fare  good,  the  laughter  and  talk 
loud.  Mr.  Davis  has  been  down  all  day  from  Montgomery,  accom- 
panied by  Mrs.  Davis,  Mr.  Maloney,  and  Mr.  Wigfall,  and  they  all  think 
his  presence  means  immediate  action. 

The  only  ship  here  is  the  shell  of  the  old  Fulton,  which  is  on  the 
stocks,  but  the  works  of  the  navy-yard  are  useful  in  casting  shot,  shell, 
and  preparing  munitions  of  wai*.  An  aide-de-camp  from  General  Bragg 
entered  as  we  were  sitting  at  table,  and  invited  me  to  attend  him  to  the 
general's  quarters.  The  road,  as  I  found,  was  very  long  and  very  dis- 
agreeable, owing  to  the  depth  of  the  sand,  into  which  the  foot  sank  at 
every  step  up  to  the  ankle.  Passing  the  front  of  an  extended  row  of 
the  clean,  airy,  pretty  villas  inside  the  navy-yard,  we  passed  the  gate 
on  exhibiting  our  passes,  and  proceeded  by  the  sea-beach,  one  side  of 
which  is  lined  with  houses,  a  few  yards  from  the  surf.  These  houses 
are  all  occupied  by  troops,  or  are  used  as  bar-rooms  or  magazines.  At 
inter\als  a  few  guns  have  been  placed  along  the  beach,  covered  by  sand- 
bags, parapets,  and  traverses.  As  we  toiled  along  in  the  sand  the  aide 
hailed  a  cart,  pressed  it  into  the  service,  and  we  continued  our  journey 
less  painfully.  Suddenly  a  tall,  straight-backed  man  in  a  blue  frock- 
coat,  with  a  star  on  the  epaulette  strap,  a  smart  kepi,  and  trowsers  with 
gold  stripe,  and  large  brass  spurs,  rode  past  on  a  high-stepping  power- 
ful charger,  followed  by  an  orderly.  "  There  is  General  Bragg,"  said 
his  aide.  The  general  turned  round,  reined  up,  and  I  was  presented  as 
I  sat  in  my  state  chariot.  The  commander  of  the  Confederated  States 
army  at  Pensacola  is  about  forty-two  years  of  age,  of  a  spare  and  powerful 
frame;  his  face  is  dark,  and  marked  with  deep  lines,  his  mouth  large, 
and  squarely  set  in  determined  jaws,  and  his  eyes,  sagacious,  penetrat- 
ing, and  not  by  any  means  unkindly,  look  out  at  you  from  beetle  brows 
which  run  straight  across  and  spring  into  a  thick  tuft  of  black  hair, 
which  is  thickest  over  the  nose,  where  naturally  it  usually  leaves  an 
intervening   space.      His  hair  is  dark,  and  he  wears  such  regulation 


46  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

whiskers  as  were  the  delight  of  our  generals  a  few  years  ago.  His 
iiiaiiner  is  quick  aud  frank,  and  his  smile  is  very  pleasing  and  agreeable. 
The  general  would  not  hear  of  my  continuing  my  journey  to  his  quar- 
ters in  a  cart,  and  his  orderly  brought  up  an  ambulance,  drawn  by  a 
smart  pair  of  mules,  in  which  I  completed  it  satisftictorily. 

The  end  of  the  journey  through  the  sandy  plain  was  at  hand,  for  in 
an  enclosure  of  a  high,  wall  there  stood  a  well-shaded  mansion,  amid 

o 

trees  of  live-oak  and  sycamore,  with  sentries  at  the  gate  and  horses  held 
by  orderlies  under  the  portico.  General  Bragg  received  me  at  the  top 
of  the  steps  which  lead  to  the  verandah,  and,  after  a  few  earnest  and 
complimentary  words,  conducted  me  to  his  office,  where  he  spoke  of 
the  contest  in  which  he  was  to  play  so  important  a  part  in  terms  of 
unaffected  earnestness.  Why  else  had  he  left  his  estates?  After  the 
Mexican  war  he  had  retired  from  the  United  States  artillery;  but 
when  his  state  was  menaced  he  was  obliged  to  defeat  her.  He  was 
satisfied  the  North  meant  nothing  but  subjugation.  All  he  wanted  was 
peace.  Slavery  was  an  institution  for  which  he  was  not  responsible ; 
but  his  property  was  guaranteed  to  him  by  law,  and  it  consisted  of 
slaves.  AVhy  did  the  enemy  take  off  slaves  from  Tortugas  to  work  for 
them  at  Pickens  ?  Because  whites  could  not  do  their  work.  It  was 
quite  impossible  to  deny  his  earnestness,  sincerity,  and  zeal  as  he  spoke, 
and  one  could  only  wonder  at  the  difference  made  by  the  "  stand- 
point" from  which  the  question  is  reviewed.  General  Bragg  finally, 
before  we  supped,  took  down  his  plans  and  showed  me  the  position  of 
every  gun  in  his  works  and  all  his  batteries.  He  showed  the  greatest 
clearness  of  unreserved  openness  in  his  communications,  and  was  anxious 
to  point  out  that  he  had  much  greater  difficulties  to  contend  with  than 
General  Beauregard  had  at  Charleston.  The  inside  of  Pickens  is  well- 
known  to  him,  as  he  was  stationed  there  the  very  first  tour  of  duty 
which  he  had  after  he  left  West  Point.  It  was  late  at  night  when  I 
returned  on  one  of  the  general's  horses  toward  the  navy-yard.  The 
orderly  who  accompanied  me  was,  he  said,  a  Mississippi  planter,  but  he 
had  left  his  wife  and  family  to  the  care  of  the  negroes,  had  turned  up 
all  his  cotton  land  and  rej)lanted  it  with  corn,  and  had  come  off  to  the 
wars.  Once  only  were  we  challenged,  and  I  was  only  required  to  show 
my  pass  as  I  was  getting  on  board  the  schooner.  Before  I  left  General 
Bragg  he  was  good  enough  to  say  he  would  send  down  one  of  his  aides- 
de-camp  and  horses  early  in  the  morning,  to  give  me  a  look  at  the 
works. 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  4/ 

Mobile,  May  16,  1S61. 
Our  little  schooner  lay  quietly  at  the  wharf  all  night,  but  no  one  was 
allowed  to  come  on  board  without  a  pass,  for  these  wild-looking  sen- 
tries are  excellent  men  of  business,  and  look  after  the  practical  part  of 
soldiering  with  all  the  keenness  which  their  direct  personal  interest 
imparts  to  their  notions  of  duty.  The  enemy  is  to  them  the  incarna- 
tion of  all  evil,  and  they  hunt  his  spies  and  servants  very  much  as  a 
terrier  chases  a  rat — with  intense  traditional  and  race  animosity.  The 
silence  of  the  night  is  not  broken  by  many  challenges  or  the  "  All's 
well !"  of  patrols,  but  there  is  warlike  significance  enough  in  the  sound 
of  the  shot  which  working  parties  are  rolling  over  the  wooden  jetty 
with  a  dull,  ponderous  thumping  on  board  the  flats  that  are  to  carry 
them  off  for  the  food  and  nourriture  of  the  batteries.  With  the  early 
morning,  however,  came  the  usual  signs  of  martial  existence.  I  started 
up  from  among  my  cockroaches,  knocked  my  head  against  the  fine 
pine  beams  over  my  hammock,  and  then,  considerably  obfuscated  by 
the  result,  proceeded  to  investigate  all  the  grounds  that  presented  them- 
selves to  me  as  worthy  of  consideration  in  reference  to  the  theory 
which  had  suddenly  forced  itself  upon  my  mind  that  I  was  in  the 
Crimea.  For  close  at  hand,  through  the  sleepy  organ  of  the  only  sense 
which  was  fully  awake,  came  the  well  known  reveille  of  the  Zouaves, 
and  then  French  clangors,  rolls,  ruffles  and  calls  ran  along  the  line, 
and  the  volunteers  got  up,  or  did  not,  as  seemed  best  to  them.  An 
ebony  and  aged  Ganymede,  however,  appeared  with  coffee,  and  told 
me  "the  cap'n  wants  ask  weder  you  take  some  bitters,  sar ;"  and,  in- 
deed, "  the  captain"  did  compound  some  amazing  preparation  for  the 
judges  and  colonels  present  on  deck  and  below  that  met  the  approval 
of  them  all,  and  was  recommending  it  for  its  fortifying  qualities  in 
makino-  a  redan  and  Malakoft'  of  the  stomach.     Breakfast  came  in  due 

o 

time — not  much  Persic  apparatus  to  excite  the  hate  of  the  simple- 
minded,  but  a  great  deal  of  substantial  matter,  in  the  shape  of  fried 
onions,  ham,  eggs,  biscuit,  with  accompaniments  of  iced-water,  Bor- 
deaux and  coffee.  Our  guests  were  two — a  broad  farmer-like  gentle- 
man, weighing  some  sixteen  stone,  dressed  in  a  green  frieze  tunic,  with 
gold  lace  and  red  and  scarlet  worsted  facings,  and  a  felt  wide-a-wake, 
who,  as  he  wiped  his  manly  brow,  informed  me  he  was  a  "  rifleman." 
We  have  some  volunteers  quite  as  corpulent,  and  not  more  patriotic, 
for  our  farmer  was  a  man  of  many  bales,  and  in  becoming  an  oflncer  in 
his  company  of  braves,  had  given  an  unmistakable  proof  of  his  devotion 
to  his  distant  home  and  property.  The  other,  a  quiet,  modest,  intelli- 
gent-looking young  man,  was  an  ofiicer  in  a  diflerent  battalion,  and 
talked  with  sense  about  a  matter  with  which   sense  has  seldom  anv 


48  PICTURES    OP    SOTJTHERN   LIFE. 

thing  to  do — I  mean  uniform.  He  remarked  that  in  a  serious  action 
and  a  close  fighting,  or  in  night  work,  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  pre- 
vent serious  mistakes,  and  even  disasters,  owing  to  the  officers  of  the 
Confederate  States  troop  swearing  the  same  distinguishing  marks  of 
rank  and  similar  uniforms,  Avhenever  they  can  get  them,  to  those  used 
in  the  regular  service  of  the  United  States,  and  that  much  inconvenience 
will  inevitably  result  from  the  great  variety  and  wonderful  diversity  of 
the  dresses  of  the  immense  number  of  companies  forming  the  different 
regiments  of  volunteers.  The  only  troops  near  us  which  were  attired 
with  a  military  exactness,  were  the  regiment  of  Zouaves,  from  New 
Orleans.  Most  of  these  are  Frenchmen  or  Creoles  ;  some  have  belonged 
to  the  battalions  which  the  Crimea  first  made  famous,  and  were  present 
before  Sebastopol,  and  in  Italy  ;  the  rest  are  Germans  and  Irish.  Our 
friends  went  oft'  to  see  them  drill,  but,  as  a  believer  in  the  enchanting 
power  of  distance,  I  preferred  to  look  on  at  such  of  the  manoeuvres  as 
could  be  seen  from  the  deck.  These  Zouaves  look  exceedingly  like 
the  real  article.  They  are,  perhaps,  a  trifle  leaner  and  taller,  and  are 
not  so  well  developed  at  the  back  of  the  head,  the  heels  and  the  ankles 
as  their  prototypes.  They  are  dressed  in  the  same  way,  except  that  I 
saw  no  turban  on  the  fez  cap.  The  jacket,  the  cummerbund,  the  baggy 
red  breeches  and  the  gaiters  are  all  copies  of  the  original.  They  are 
all  armed  with  rifle  musket  and  sword-bayonet,  and  their  pay  is  at  the 
usual  rate  of  $11,  or  something  like  £2  6s.  a  month,  with  rations  and 
allowances.  The  officers  do  their  best  to  be  the  true  "  chacal."  I  was 
more  interested,  I  confess,  in  watching  the  motions  of  vast  shoals  of 
mullet  and  other  fish,  which  flew  here  and  there,  like  flocks  of  plover, 
before  the  red-fish  and  other  enemies,  and  darted  under  our  boat,  than 
in  examining  Zouave  drill.  Once,  as  a  large  fish  came  gamboling  along 
the  surfiice  close  at  hand,  a  great  gleam  of  white  shot  up  in  the  waves 
beneath,  and  a  boiling  whirl,  marked  with  a  crimson  pool,  which  grad- 
ually melted  off  in  the  tide,  showed  where  a  monster  shark  had  taken 
down  a  part  of  his  breakfast.  "  That's  a  ground  sheark,"  quoth  the 
skipper  ;  "  there's  quite  a  many  of  them  about  here."  Porpoises  passed 
by  in  a  great  hurry  for  Pensacola,  and  now  and  then  a  turtle  showed 
his  dear  little  head  above  the  enviable  fluid  which  he  honored  with  his 
presence.  Far  away  in  the  long  stretch  of  water  toward  Pensacola  are 
six  British  merchantmen  in  a  state  of  blockade — that  is,  they  have 
only  fifteen  days  to  clear  out,  according  to  the  reading  of  the  law 
adopted  by  the  United  States  officers.  The  navy-yard  looks  clean  and 
neat  in  the  early  morning,  and  away  on  the  other  side  of  the  channel 
Fort  Pickens — teterrima  causa — raises  its  dark  front  from  the  white 
sand  and  green  sward  of  the  glacis,  on  which  a  number  of  black  objects 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  49 

invite  inspection  through  a  telescope,  and  obligingly  resolve  themselvc.-i 
into  horses  turned  out  to  graze  on  the  slope.  Fort  M'Rae,  at  the  other 
side  of  the  channel,  as  if  to  irritate  its  neighbor,  flings  out  a  flag  to  the 
breeze,  which  is  the  counterpart  of  the  "  stars  and  stripes"  that  wave 
from  the  rival  flagstaff,  and  is,  at  this  distance,  identical  to  the  eye, 
until  the  glass  detects  the  solitary  star  in  its  folds  instead  of  the  whole 
galaxy.  On  the  dazzling  snowy  margin  of  sand  that  separates  the 
trees  and  brushwood  from  the  sea  close  at  hand,  the  outline  of  the  bat- 
teries which  stud  the  shore  for  miles  is  visible.  Let  us  go  and  make  a 
close  inspection.  Mr.  Ellis,  lieutenant  in  the  Louisiana  regiment,  who  is 
aide-de-camp  to  Brigadier-General  Bragg,  has  just  arrived  with  a  mes- 
sage from  his  chief  to  escort  me  round  all  the  works,  and  wherever  else 
I  like  to  go,  without  any  reservation  whatever.  He  is  a  handsome,  well- 
built,  slight  young  fellow,  very  composed  and  staid  in  manner,  but  full 
of  sentiment  for  the  South.  Returned  from  a  tour  in  Europe,  he  is  all 
admiration  for  English  scenery,  life  and  habits.  "  After  all,  nature  has 
been  more  bountiful  to  you  than  to  us."  He  is  dressed  in  a  tight 
undress  cavalry -jacket  and  trousers  of  blue  flannel,  with  plain  gold-lace 
pipings  and  buttons,  but  on  his  heels  are  heavy  brass  spurs,  worthy  of 
the  heaviest  of  field  officers.  Our  horses  are  standing  in  the  shade  of 
a  large  tree  near  the  wharf,  and  mine  is  equipped  with  a  saddle  of  pon- 
derous brass-work,  on  raised  pummel,  and  cantle,  and  housings,  and 
emblazoned  cloth,  and  mighty  stirrups  of  brass,  fit  for  the  stoutest 
marshal  that  ever  led  an  army  of  France  to  victory ;  General  Braxton 
Bragg  is  longer  in  the  leg  than  Marshal  Pelissier,  or  Canrobert,  or  the 
writer,  and  as  we  jogged  along  over  the  deep,  hot  sand,  my  kind  com- 
panion, in  spite  of  my  assurances  that  the  leathers  were  quite  comfort- 
able, made  himself  and  me  somewhat  uneasy  on  the  score  of  their 
adjustment,  and,  as  there  was  no  implement  at  hand  to  make  a  hole, 
we  turned  into  the  general's  courtyard  to  effect  the  necessary  altera- 
tions. The  cry  of  '-  Orderly"  brought  a  smart,  soldierly-looking  young 
man  to  the  front,  who  speedily  took  me  three  holes  up,  and  as  I  was 
going  away  he  touched  his  cap  and  said  :  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,  but 
I  often  saw  you  in  the  Crimea."  His  story  as  he  told  it  was  brief. 
He  had  been  in  the  Eleventh  Hussars,  and  on  the  25th  of  October  he 
was  following,  as  he  said,  close  after  Lord  Cardigan  and  Captain  Nolan 
when  his  horse  was  killed  under  him.  As  he  tried  to  make  his  escape 
the  Cossacks  took  him  prisoner,  and  for  eleven  months  he  was  in  cap- 
tivity, but  was  exchanged  at  Odessa.  "  Why  did  you  leave  the  ser- 
vice ?"  "  Well,  sir,  I  was  one  of  the  two  sergeants  that  were  permitted 
to  leave  in  each  regiment  on  the  close  of  the  war,  and  I  came  away." 
"  But  here  you  are  soldiering  again  ?"  "  Yes,  sir.  I  came  over  here 
3 


50  nCTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

to  better  myself,  as  I  thought,  and  I  had  to  enter  one  of  their  cavalry 
l-egiments,  but  now  I  am  an  orderly."  He  told  me  further,  that  his 
name  was  Montague,  and  that  he  "  thought  his  father  lived  near  Wind- 
sor, twenty-one  miles  from  London;"  and  I  was  pleased  to  find  his 
superior  oflacers  spoke  of  him  in  very  high  terms,  although  I  could 
have  wished  those  who  spoke  so  were  in  our  own  service. 

I  do  not  think  that  any  number  of  words  can  give  a  good  idea  of  a 
long  line  of  detached  batteries      I  went  through  them  all,  and  I  cer- 
tainly found  stronger  reasons  than  ever  for  distrusting  the  extraordinary 
statements  which  appear  in  the  American  journals  in  reference  to  mili- 
tary matters,  particularly  on  their  own  side  of  the  question.     Instead 
of  hundreds  of  guns,  there  are  only  ten.     They  are  mostly  of  small 
calibre,  and  the  gun-carriages  are  old  and  unsound,  or  new  and  rudely 
made.     There  are  only  five  "heavy"  guns  in  all  the  works;  but  the 
mortar  batteries,  three  in  number,  of  which  one  is  unfinished,  will  prove 
very  damaging,  although  they  will  only  contain  nine  or  ten  mortars. 
The  batteries  are  all  sand-bag  and  earthworks,  with  the  exception  of 
Fort  Barrancas.     They  are  made  after  all  sorts  of  ways,  and  are  of  very 
different  degrees  of  efficiency.     In  some  the  magazines  will  come  to 
speedy  destruction ;   in  others  they  are  well  made.     Some  are  of  the 
finest  white  sand,  and  will  blind  the  gunners,  or  be  blown  away  with 
shells  ;  others  are  cramped,  and  hardly  traversed  ;   others,   again,   are 
very  spacious  and  well  constructed.     The  embrasures  are  usually  made 
of  sand-bags,  covered  with  raw  hides  to  save  the  cotton-bags  from  the 
effect  of  the  fire  of  their  own   guns.      I  was  amused  to  observe  that 
most  of  these  works  had  galleries  in  the  rear,  generally  in  connection 
with  the  magazine  passages,  which  the  constructors  called  "rat-holes," 
and  which  are  intended  as  shelter  to  the  men  at  the  guns  in  case  of 
shells  falling  inside  the  battery.     They  may  prove  to  have  a  very  dif- 
ferent result,  and  are  certainly  not  so  desirable  in  a  military  point  of 
view  as  good  traverses.      A  rush  for  the  "rat-hole"  will  not  be  very 
dignified  or  improving  to  the  morale  every  time  a  bomb  hurtles  over 
them  ;   and  assuredly  the  damage  to  the  magazines  will  be  enormous 
if  the  fire  from  Pickens  is  accurate  and  well  sustained.      Several  of  the 
batteries  were  not  finished,  and  the  men  w^ho  ought  to  have  been  work- 
ing were  lying  under  the  shade  of  trees,  sleeping  or  smoking — long- 
limbed,  long-bearded  fellows  in  flannel  shirts  and  slouched  hats,  uni- 
formless  in  all,  save  bright  well-kept  arms  and  resolute  purpose.     We 
went  along  slowly,  from  one  battery  to  the  other.      I  visited  nine  alto- 
gether, not  including  Fort  Barrancas,  and  there  are  three  others,  among 
which  is  Fort  M'Rae.     Perhaps  there  may  be  fifty  guns  of  all  sorts  in 
•  position  for  about  three  miles,  along  a  line   extending   135  degrees 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  51 

round  Fort  Pickens,  the  average  distance  being  about  one  and  one-third 
miles.  The  mortar  batteries  are  well  placed  among  brushwood,  quite 
out  of  view  of  the  fort,  at  distances  varying  from  2,500  to  2,800  yards, 
and  the  mortars  are  generally  of  calibres  corresponding  nearly  with  our 
ten-inch  pieces.  Several  of  the  gun  batteries  are  put  on  the  level  of 
the  beach  ;  others  have  more  command,  and  one  is  particularly  well 
placed,  close  to  the  White  Lighthouse,  on  a  high  plateau  which  domi- 
nates the  sandy  strip  that  runs  out  to  Fort  M'Rae.  Of  the  latter  I 
have  already  spoken.  Fort  Barrancas  is  an  old  fort — I  believe  of 
Spanish  construction,  with  a  very  meagre  trace — a  plain  curtain-face 
toward  the  sea,  protected  by  a  dry  ditch  and  an  outwork,  in  which, 
however,  there  are  no  guns.  There  is  a  drawbridge  in  the  rear  of  the 
work,  which  is  a  simple  parallelogram  showing  twelve  guns  mounted 
en  barbette  on  the  sea-face.  The  walls  are  of  brick,  and  the  guns  are 
protected  by  thick  merlons  of  sand-bags.  The  sole  advantage  of  the 
fort  is  in  its  position  ;  it  almost  looks  down  into  the  casemates  of 
Pickens  opposite  at  its  weakest  point,  and  it  has  a  fair  command  of 
the  sea  entrance,  but  the  guns  are  weak,  and  there  are  only  three  pieces 
mounted  which  can  do  much  mischief.  While  I  was  looking  round, 
there  was  an  entertaining  dispute  going  on  between  two  men,  whom  I 
believe  to  have  been  officers,  as  to  the  work  to  be  done,  and  I  heard 
the  inferior  intimate  pretty  broadly  his  conviction  that  his  chief  did 
not  know  his  own  business  in  reference  to  some  orders  he  was  con- 
veying. 

The  amount  of  ammunition  which  I  saw  did  not  appear  to  me  to  be 
at  all  sufficient  for  one  day's  moderate  firing,  and  many  of  the  shot 
were  roughly  cast  and  had  deep  flanges  from  the  moulds  in  their  sides, 
and  very  destructive  to  the  guns  as  well  as  to  accuracy.  In  the  rear 
of  these  batteries,  among  the  pine  woods  and  in  deep  brush,  are  three 
irregular  camps,  which,  to  the  best  of  my  belief,  could  not  contain 
more  than  2,700  men.  There  are  probably  3,000  in  and  about  the 
batteries,  the  navy-yard  and  the  suburbs,  and  there  are,  also,  I  am 
informed,  1,500  at  Pensacola,  but  I  doubt  exceedingly  that  there  are 
as  many  as  8,000  men,  all  told,  of  etifective  strength  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Bragg.  It  would  be  a  mistake  to  despise  these  irregu- 
lars. One  of  the  Mississippi  regiments  out  in  camp  was  evidently  com- 
posed of  men  who  liked  campaigning,  and  who  looked  as  though  they 
would  like  fighting.  They  had  no  particular  uniforms — the  remark 
will  often  be  made — but  they  had  pugnacious  physiognomies  and  the 
physical  means  of  carrying  their  inclinations  into  effect,  and  every  man 
of  them  was,  I  am  informed,  familiar  with  the  use  of  arms.  Their  tents 
are  mostly  small  and  bad,  on  the  ridge-pole  pattern,  with  side  flys  to 


52  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

keep  off  the  sun.  In  some  battalions  they  observe  regularity  of  line, 
in  others  they  follow  individual  or  company  caprice.  The  men  use 
green  boughs  and  bowers,  as  our  poor  fellows  did  in  the  old  hot  days 
in  Bulgaria,  and  many  of  them  had  benches  and  seats  before  their 
doors,  and  the  luxury  of  boarded  floors  to  sleep  upon.  There  is  an 
embarrassing  custom  in  America,  scarcely  justifiable  in  any  code  of 
good  manners,  which,  in  the  South  at  least,  is  only  too  common,  and 
which  may  be  still  more  general  in  the  North  ;  at  all  events,  to  a 
stranger  it  is  productive  of  the  annoyance  which  is  experienced  by  one 
who  is  obliged  to  inquire  whether  the  behavior  of  those  among  whom 
he  is  at  the  time,  is  intentional  rudeness  or  conventional  want  of  breed- 
ing. For  instance,  my  friend  and  myself,  as  we  are  riding  along,  see 
a  gentleman  standing  near  his  battery,  or  his  tent — "Good  morrow, 
colonel,"  or  "general"  (as  the  case  may  be),  says  my  friend — "Good 
morrow  (imagining  military  rank  according  to  the  notion  possessed  by 
speaker  of  the  importance  of  the  position  of  a  general's  A.  D.  C),  Ellis." 
"  Colonel,  etc.,  allow  me  to  introduce  to  you  Mr.  Jones,  of  London." 
The  colonel  advances  with  effusion,  holds  out  his  hand,  grasps  Jones's 
hand  rigidly,  and  says,  warmly,  as  if  he  had  just  gained  a  particular 
object  of  his  existence  :  "  Mr.  Jones,  I'm  very  glad  to  make  your 
acquaintance,  sir.  Have  you  been  pretty  well  since  you  have  been  in 
our  country,  sir  ?"  etc.  But  it  is  most  likely  that  the  colonel  will  just 
walk  away  when  he  pleases,  without  saying  a  word  to,  or  taking  the 
least  notice  of,  the  aforesaid  Jones,  as  to  whose  acquaintance  he  had 
just  before  expressed  such  friendly  feelings,  and  in  whose  personal 
health  he  had  taken  so  deep  an  interest ;  and  Jones,  till  he  is  accus- 
tomed to  it,  feels  affronted.  The  fact  is,  that  the  introduction  means 
nothing ;  you  are  merely  told  each  other's  names,  and  if  you  like,  you 
may  improve  your  acquaintance.  The  hand-shaking  is  a  remnant  of 
barbarous  times,  when  men  with  the  same  colored  skin  were  glad  to 
see  each  other. 

The  country  through  which  we  rode  was  most  uninteresting,  thick 
brushwood  and  pine-trees  springing  out  of  deep  sand,  here  and  there 
a  nullah  and  some  dirty  stream — all  flat  as  ditchwater.  On  our  return 
we  halted  at  the  general's  quarters.  I  had  left  a  note  for  him,  in  which 
I  inquired  whether  he  would  have  any  objection  to  my  proceeding  to 
Fort  Pickens  from  his  command,  in  case  I  obtained  permission  to  do 
so,  and  when  I  entered  General  Bragg's  room  he  was  engaged  in 
writing  not  merely  a  very  courteous  and  complimentary  expression  of 
his  acquiescence  in  my  visit,  but  letters  of  introduction  to  personal 
friends  in  Louisiana,  in  the  hope  of  rendering  my  sojourn  more  agree- 
able.    He  expressed  a  doubt  whether  my  comrades  would  be  permitted 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  53 

to  enter  tlie  fort,  and  talked  very  freely  -with  me  in  reference  to  what 
I  had  seen  at  the  batteries,  but  I  thought  I  perceived  an  indication  of 
some  change  of  purpose  with  respect  to  the  immediate  urgency  of  the 
attack  on  Fort  Pickens  compared  with  his  expressions  last  night.  At 
length  I  departed,  with  many  thanks  to  General  Bragg  for  his  kindness 
and  confidence,  and  returned  to  a  room  full  of  generals  and  colonels, 
who  made  a  levee  of  their  visits. 

On  my  return  to  the  schooner,  I  observed  that  the  small  houses  on 
the  side  of  the  long  sandy  beach  were  filled  with  men,  many  of  whom 
were  in  groups  round  the  happy  possessors  of  a  newspaper,  and  listened 
with  the  utmost  interest  to  the  excited  delivery  of  the  oracular  sen- 
tences. II  ow  much  of  the  agony  and  bitterness  of  this  conflict — nay, 
how  much  of  its  existence — may  be  due  to  these  same  newspapers,  no 
man  can  say,  but  I  have  very  decided  opinions,  or  rather  a  very  strong 
belief,  on  the  subject.  There  were  still  more  people  around  the  various 
bar-rooms  than  were  attracted  even  by  the  journalists.  Two  of  our 
companions  were  on  board  when  I  got  back  to  the  quay.  The  Mobile 
gentlemen  had  gone  off  to  Pensacola,  and  had  not  returned  to  time, 
and  under  any  circumstances  it  was  not  probable  that  they  would  be 
permitted  to  land,  as  undoubtedly  they  were  no  friends  to  the  garrison, 
or  to  the  cause  of  the  United  States.  Our  skipper  opened  his  eyes 
and  shook  his  rough  head  a  little  when  he  was  ordered  to  get  under 
way  for  Fort  Pickens,  and  to  anchor  off  the  jetty.  Up  went  the  flag 
of  truce  to  the  fore  once  more,  but  the  ever- watchful  sentry,  diverted 
for  the  time  from  his  superintendence  of  the  men  who  were  fishing  at 
our  pier,  forbade  our  departure  till  the  corporal  of  the  guard  had  given 
leave,  and  the  corporal  of  the  guard  would  not  let  the  fair  Diana  cast 
off  her  warp  till  he  had  consulted  the  sergeant  of  the  guard,  and  so 
there  w^as  some  delay  occasioned  by  the  necessity  for  holding  an  inter- 
view with  that  functionary,  who  finally  permitted  the  captain  to  pro- 
ceed on  his  way,  and  with  a  fair  light  breeze  the  schooner  fell  round 
into  the  tide-way  and  glided  off  toward  the  fort.  We  drew  up  with  it 
rapidly,  and  soon  attracted  the  notice  of  the  look-out  men  and  some 
officers  who  came  down  to  the  jetty. 

We  anchored  a  cable's  length  from  the  jetty.  In  reply  to  the  sen- 
try's hail,  the  skipper  asked  for  a  boat  to  put  off  for  us.  "  Come  off 
in  your  own  boat."  Skiff  of  Charon  !  But  there  was  no  choice. 
With  all  the  bathos  of  that  remarkable  structure  it  could  not  go  down 
in  such  a  short  row.  And  if  it  did  ?  Well,  "  there's  not  a  more  ter- 
rible place  for  sharks  along  this  coast,"  the  captain  had  told  us  inci- 
dentally en  route.  Our  own  boat  was  inclined  to  impartiality  in  its 
relations  with  the  w^ater,  and  took  quite  as  much  inside  as  it  could 


54  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

hold,  but  we  soused  into  it,  and  the  men  pulled  like  Doggett's  Badgers, 
and  soon  we  Avere  out  of  shark  depth  and  alongside  the  jetty,  where 
Avere  standing  to  receive  us  Mr.  Brown,  our  friend  of  yesterday,  Cap- 
tain Vodges,  and  Captain  Berry,  commanding  a  United  States  battery 
inside  the  fort.  The  soldiers  of  the  guard  Avere  United  States  regular 
troops  of  the  artillery,  wore  blue  uniforms  with  brass  buttons,  and 
remarkably  ugly  slouched  felt  hats,  Avith  an  ornament  in  the  shape  of 
two  crossed  cannon.  Captain  Yodges  informed  me  that  Colonel  Moore 
had  sent  off  a  reply  to  my  letter  to  the  fleet,  stating  that  he  Avould 
gladly  permit  me  to  go  OA^er  the  fort,  but  that  he  could  not  allow  any 
one  else,  under  any  circumstances  Avhatever,  to  A'isit  it.  My  friends 
Avere  therefore  constrained  to  stay  outside,  but  one  of  them  picked  up 
a  friend  on  the  beach  and  got  up  an  impromptu  ride  along  the  island. 
The  Avay  from  the  jetty  to  the  entrance  of  the  fort  is  in  the  universal 
deep  sand  of  this  part  of  the  Avorld  ;  the  distance  from  the  landing- 
place  to  the  gatcAvay  is  not  much  more  than  tAvo  hundred  yards,  and 
the  approach  to  the  portal  is  quite  unprotected.  There  is  a  high  ramp 
and  glacis  on  the  land  side,  but  the  face  and  part  of  the  curtain  in 
Avhich  the  gate  is  situate  are  open,  as  it  Avas  not  considered  likely  that 
it  Avould  ever  be  attacked  by  Americans.  The  sharp  angle  of  the  bas- 
tion on  this  face  is  so  weak  that  men  are  noAv  engaged  in  throAving  up 
an  extempore  glacis  to  cover  the  base  of  the  Avail  and  "the  casemates 
from  fire.  The  ditch  is  very  broad,  and  the  scarp  and  counterscarp 
are  riveted  Avith  brickAvork.  The  curvette  has  been  cleared  out,  and 
in  doing  so,  as  a  proof  of  the  agreeable  character  of  the  locality,  I 
may  observe  upAvards  of  sixty  rattlesnakes  were  killed  by  the  workmen. 
An  abattis  has  been  made  along  the  edge  of  this  part  of  the  ditch — a 
rough  inclined  fence  of  stakes  and  boughs  of  trees.  "  Yes,  sir  ;  at  one 
time  when  those  terrible  fire-eating  gentlemen  at  the  other  side  Avere 
full  of  threats,  and  coming  to  take  the  place  every  day,  there  Avere  only 
seventy  men  in  this  fort,  and  Lieutenant  Slemmer  threw  up  this  abattis 
to  delay  his  assailants,  if  it  were  only  for  a  few  minutes,  and  to  give  his 
men  breathing  time  to  use  their  small  arms."  The  casemates  here  are 
all  blinded,  and  the  hospital  is  situate  in  the  bomb-proofs  inside.  The 
gate  Avas  closed  ;  at  a  talismanic  knock  it  Avas  opened,  and  from  the 
external  silence  Ave  passed  into  a  scene  full  of  activity  and  life,  through 
the  dark  gallery  Avhich  served  at  first  as  a  framcAvork  to  the  picture. 
The  parade  of  the  fort  Avas  full  of  men,  and  as  a  couj)  cTceil^  it  Avas 
obvious  that  great  efforts  had  been  made  to  prepare  Fort  Pickens  for  a 
desperate  defence.  In  the  parade  Avere  several  tents  of  Avhat  is  called 
Sibley's  pattern,  like  our  bell  tents,  but  Avithout  the  loAver  side-wall, 
and  provided  with  a  ventilating  top,  which  can  be  elevated  or  depressed 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  55 

at  pleasure.  The  parade-ground  has  been  judiciously  filled  with  deep 
holes,  like  inverted  cones,  in  which  shells  will  be  comparatively  innocu- 
ous ;  and  warned  by  Sumter,  every  thing  has  been  removed  which  could 
prove  in  the  least  degree  combustible.  The  officer  on  duty  led  me 
straight  across  to  the  opposite  angle  of  the  fort.  As  the  rear  of  the 
casemates  and  bomb-proofs  along  this  side  will  be  exposed  to  a  plung- 
ing fire  from  the  opposite  side,  a  very  ingenious  screen  has  been  con- 
structed, by  placing  useless  gun-platforms  and  parts  of  carriages  at  an 
angle  against  the  wall,  and  piling  them  up  wdth  sand  and  earth  for 
several  feet  in  thickness.  A  passage  is  thus  left  between  the  base  of 
the  wall  and  that  of  the  screen,  throuirh  which  a  man  can  walk  wdth 
ease.  Turning  into  this  passage,  we  entered  a  lofty  bomb-proof,  which 
was  the  bedroom  of  the  commanding  officer,  and  passed  through  into 
the  casemate  which  serves  as  his  head-quarters.  Colonel  Harvey  Brown 
received  me  with  every  expression  of  politeness  and  courtesy.  He  is 
a  tall,  spare,  soldierly-looking  man,  with  a  face  indicative  of  great  reso- 
lution and  energy,  as  well  as  of  sagacity  and  kindness ;  and  his  attach- 
ment to  the  Union  was  probably  one  of  the  reasons  of  his  removal  from 
the  command  of  Fort  Hamilton,  New  York,  to  the  charge  of  this  very 
important  fort.  He  has  been  long  in  the  service,  and  he  belonged  to 
the  first  class  of  graduates  who  passed  at  West  Point  after  its  establish- 
ment in  1818.  After  a  short  and  very  interesting  conversation,  he 
proceeded  to  show  me  the  works,  and  we  mounted  upon  the  parapet, 
accompanied  by  Captain  Berry,  and  went  over  all  the  defences.  Fort 
Pickens  has  a  regular  bastioned  trace,  in  outline  an  oblique  and  rather 
narrow  parallelogram,  with  the  obtuse  angles  facing  the  sea  at  one  side 
and  the  land  at  the  other.  The  acute  angle  at  which  the  bastion 
toward  the  enemy's  batteries  is  situate,  is  the  weakest  part  of  the  w^ork  ; 
but  it  was  built  for  sea  defence,  as  I  have  already  observed,  and  the 
trace  was  prolonged  to  obtain  the  greatest  amount  of  fire  on  the  sea 
approaches.  The  crest  of  the  parapet  is  covered  wdth  very  solid  and 
well-made  merlons  of  heavy  sand-bags,  but  one  face  and  the  gorge  of 
the  bastion  are  exposed  to  an  enfilading  fire  from  Fort  M'Rae,  which 
the  colonel  said  he  intended  to  guard  against  if  he  got. time.  All  the 
guns  seemed  in  good  order,  the  carriages  being  well  constructed,  but 
they  are  mostly  of  what  are  considered  small  calibres  now-a-days,  being 
32-pounders,  wdth  some  42-pounders  and  24-pounders.  There  are, 
however,  four  heavy  columbiads,  wdiich  command  the  enemy's  works 
on  several  points  very  completely.  It  struck  me  that  the  bastion  guns 
were  rather  crowded.  But,  even  in  its  present  state,  the  defensive 
preparations  are  most  creditable  to  the  officers,  who  have  had  only 
three  wrecks  to  do  the  immense  amount  of  work  before  us.      The  brick 


56  PICTURES   OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

copings  have  been  removed  from  the  parapets,  and  strong  sand-bag 
traverses  have  been  constructed  to  cover  the  gunners,  in  addition  to 
the  "rat-holes"  at  the  bastions.  More  heavy  guns  are  expected,  which, 
with  the  aid  of  a  few  more  mortars,  will  enable  the  garrison  to  hold 
their  own  against  every  thing  but  a  regular  siege  on  the  land  side,  and 
so  long  as  the  fleet  covers  the  narrow  neck  of  the  island  with  its  guns, 
it  is  not  possible  for  the  Confederates  to  effect  a  lodgment.  If  Fort 
M'Rae  was  strong  and  heavily  armed,  it  could  inflict  great  damage  on 
Pickens ;  but  it  is  neither  one  nor  the  other,  and  the  United  States 
officers  are  confident  that  they  will  speedily  render  it  quite  untenable. 
The  houches  a  feu  of  the  fort  may  be  put  down  at  forty,  including  the 
available  pieces  in  the  casemates,  which  sweep  the  ditch  and  the  faces 
of  the  curtains.  The  walls  are  of  the  hardest  brick,  of  nine  feet  thick- 
ness in  many  places,  and  the  crest  of  the  parapets  on  which  the  merlons 
and  traverses  rest  are  of  turf.  From  the  walls  there  is  a  splendid  view 
of  the  whole  position,  and  I  found  my  companions  were  perfectly  well 
acquainted  with  the  strength  and  locus  of  the  greater  part  of  the  ene- 
my's works.  Of  course  I  held  my  peace,  but  I  was  amused  at  their 
accuracy.  "  There  are  the  quarters  of  our  friend.  General  Bragg." 
"  There  is  one  of  their  best  batteries  just  beside  the  lighthouse."  The 
tall  chimney  of  the  Warrington  navy-yard  was  smoking  away  lustily. 
The  colonel  called  my  attention  to  it.  "Do  you  see  that,  sir?  They 
are  casting  shot,  there.  The  sole  reason  for  their  '  forbearance,'  is  that 
navy-yard.  They  know  full  well  that  if  they  open  a  gun  upon  us,  we 
^vill  lay  that  yard  and  all  the  work  in  ruins." 

Captain  Yodges  subsequently  expressed  some  uneasiness  on  a  point 
as  to  which  I  could  have  relieved  his  mind  very  effectually.  He  had 
seen  something  which  led  him  to  apprehend  that  the  Confederates 
had  a  strong  intrenched  camp  in  rear  of  their  works.  Thereupon  I 
was  enabled  to  perceive  that  in  Captain  Vodges'  mind,  there  Avas  a 
strong  intention  to  land  and  carry  the  enemy's  position.  Why,  other- 
wise, did  you  care  about  an  intrenched  camp,  most  excellent  engineer  ? 
But  now  I  may  tell  you  that  there  is  no  intrenched  camp  at  all,  and 
that  your  vigilant  eye,  sir,  merely  detected  certain  very  absurd  little 
furrows  which  the  Confederates  have  in  some  places  thrown  up  in  the 
soft  sand  in  front  of  their  camps,  which  would  cover  a  man  up  to  the 
knee  or  stomach,  and  are  quite  useless  as  a  breastwork.  If  they  thought 
a  landing  probable,  it  is  unpardonable  in  them  to  neglect  such  a  pro- 
tection. These  furrows  are  quite  straight,  and  even  if  they  are  deep- 
ened the  assailants  have  merely  to  march  round  them,  as  they  extend 
for  only  some  forty  or  fifty  yards,  and  have  no  flanks.  The  officers  of 
the  garrison  arc  aware  the  enemy  have  mortar  batteries,  but  they  think 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  57 

tlie  inside  of  tlie  fort  will  not  be  easily  hit,  and  they  said  nothing  to 
show  that  they  were  acquainted  with  the  position  of  the  mortars. 

From  the  parapet  we  descended  by  a  staircase  into  the  casement, 
The  Confederates  are  greatly  deceived  in  their  expectation  that  the 
United  States  soldiers  will  be  much  exposed  to  sun  or  heat  in  Pickens. 
More  airy,  well  ventilated  quarters  cannot  be  imagined,  and  there  is 
quite  light  enough  to  enable  the  men  to  read  in  most  of  them.  The 
plague  of  flies  will  infest  both  armies,  and  is  the  curse  of  every  camp 
in  the  summer.  As  to  mosquitos,  the  Confederates  will  probably 
suffer,  if  not  more,  at  least  as  much  as  the  States  troops.  The  effect 
of  other  tormentors,  such  as  yellow  fever  and  dysentery,  will  be  in  all 
probability  impartially  felt  on  both  sides  ;  but,  unless  the  position  of 
the  fort  is  peculiarly  unhealthy,  the  men  who  are  under  no  control  in 
respect  to  their  libations,  will  probably  suflfer  more  than  those  who  are 
restrained  by  discipline  and  restricted  to  a  regular  allowance.  Water 
can  always  be  had  by  digging,  and  is  fit  for  use  if  drunk  immediately. 
Vegetables  and  fresh  provisions,  are  not,  of  course,  so  easily  had  as  on 
shore,  but  there  is  a  scarcity  of  them  in  both  camps,  and  the  supplies 
from  the  store-ships  are  very  good  and  certain.  The  bread  baked  by 
the  garrison  is  excellent,  as  I  had  an  opportunity  of  ascertaining,  for  I 
carried  oft'  two  loaves  from  the  bakehouse  on  board  the  schooner.  Our 
walk  through  the  casemates  was  very  interesting.  They  were  crowded 
with  men,  most  of  whom  were  reading.  They  were  quiet,  orderly- 
looking  soldiers — a  mixture  of  old  and  young — scarcely  equal  in 
stature  to  their  opponents,  but  more  to  be  depended  upon  I  should 
think  in  a  long  struggle.  Every  thing  seemed  well  arranged.  Those 
men  who  were  in  their  beds  had  mosquito  curtains  drawn,  and  were 
reading  or  sleeping  at  their  ease.  In  the  casemate  used  as  an  hospital 
there  were  only  some  twelve  men  sick  out  of  the  whole  garrison,  and  I 
was  much  struck  by  the  absence  of  any  foul  smell  and  by  the  cleanli- 
ness and  neatness  of  all  the  arrangements.  The  colonel  spoke  to  each 
of  the  men  kindly,  and  they  appeared  glad  to  see  him.  The  dispen- 
sary was  as  neat  as  care  and  elbow-grease  could  make  it,  and  next  door 
to  it,  in  strange  juxtaposition,  was  the  laboratory  for  the  manufactory 
of  fuses  and  deadly  implements,  in  equally  good  order.  Every  thing 
is  ready  for  immediate  service.  I  am  inclined  to  think  it  will  be  some 
time  before  it  is  wanted.  Assuredly,  if  the  enemy  attack  Fort  Pickens 
they  will  meet  with  a  resistance  which  will  probably  end  in  the  entire 
destruction  of  the  navy -yard,  and  of  the  greater  part  of  their  w^orks. 
A  week's  delay  will  enable  Colonel  Brown  to  make  good  some  grave 
defects  ;  but  delay  is  of  more  advantage  to  his  enemy  than  it  is  to 
him,  and  if  Fort  Pickens  were  made  at  once  the  point  cfappui  for  a 
3* 


58  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

vigorous  offensive  movement  by  tlie  fleet  and  by  a  land  force,  I  have 
very  little  doubt  in  my  mind  that  Pensacola  must  fell,  and  that  Gen- 
eral Bragg  would  be  obliged  to  retrie.  In  a  few  weeks  the  attitude  of 
affairs  may  be  very  different.  The  railroad  is  open  to  General  Bragg, 
and  he  can  place  himself  in  a  very  much  stronger  attitude  than  he  now 
occupies. 

At  last  the  time  came  for  me  to  leave.  The  colonel  and  Captain 
Berry  came  down  to  the  beach  with  me.  Outside  we  found  Captain 
Vodges  kindly  keeping  my  friends  in  conversation  and  in  liquid  sup- 
plies in  the  shade  of  the  bakehouse  shed,  and,  after  a  little  more  pleas- 
ant conversation,  we  were  afloat  once  more.  Probably  no  living  man 
w^as  ever  permitted  to  visit  the  camps  of  two  enemies  within  sight  of 
each  other  before  this,  under  similar  circumstances,  for  I  was  neither 
spy  nor  herald,  and  I  owe  my  best  thanks  to  those  who  trusted  me  on 
both  sides  so  freely  and  so  honorably.  A  gentleman  wdio  preceded  me 
did  not  fare  quite  so  well.  He  landed  on  the  island  and  went  up  to 
the  fort,  where  he  represented  himself  to  be  the  correspondent  of  an 
American  journal.  But  his  account  of  himself  was  not  deemed  satis- 
factory. He  was  sent  off  to  the  fleet.  Presently  there  came  over  a 
flag  of  truce  from  General  Bragg,  wdth  a  warrant  signed  by  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  for  the  correspondent,  on  a  charge  of  felony  ;  but  the 
writ  did  not  run  in  Fort  Pickens.  The  officers  regarded  the  message 
as  a  clever  ruse  to  get  back  a  spy,  and  the  correspondent  is  still  in 
durance  vile  or  in  safety,  as  the  case  may  be,  on  board  the  squadron. 

All  sails  filled,  the  Diana  stood  up  toward  the  navy-yard  once 
more  in  the  glare  of  the  setting  sun.  The  sentinels  along  the  battery 
and  beach  glared  at  us  with  surprise  as  the  schooner,  with  her  flag  of 
truce  still  flying,  ran  past  them.  The  pier  was  swept  with  the  glass 
for  the  Mobile  gentlemen  ;  they  were  not  visible.  "  Halloa  !  Mr.  Cap- 
tain, what's  that  you're  at  ?"  His  mate  was  waving  the  Confederate 
flag  from  the  deck — "Its  only  the  signal,  sir,  to  the  gentlemen  on 
shore."  "Wave  some  other  flag,  then,  while  there's  a  flag  of  truce 
flying,  and  wdiile  we  are  in  these,  waters."  After  backing  and  filling 
for  some  time  the  party  were  descried  in  the  distance.  Again,  the 
watery  skiff  was  sent  off,  and  in  a  few  minutes  they  were  permitted, 
thanks  to  their  passes,  to  come  oft".  Some  confidential  person  had  in- 
formed them  the  attack  w^as  certainly  coming  off  in  a  very  short  time. 
They  w^ere  anxious  to  stay.  They  had  seen  friends  at  Pensacola,  and 
were  full  of  praises  of  "  the  quaint  old  Spanish  settlement,"  but  mine 
is,  unfortunately,  not  an  excursion  of  pleasure,  and  it  was  imperative 
that  I  should  not  waste  time.  Every  thing  had  been  seen  that  was 
necessary  for  my  purpose.       It  was  beyond  my  power  to  state  the  rea- 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  59 

sons  whicli  led  me  to  think  no  fight  would  take  place,  for  doing  so 
would  have  been  to  betray  confidence.  And  so  we  parted  company — 
they  to  feast  their  eyes  on  a  bombardment — and  if  they  only  are  near 
enough  to  see  it  they  will  heartily  regret  their  curiosity,  or  I  am  mis- 
taken— and  we  to  return  to  Mobile. 

It  was  dark  before  the  Diana  Avas  well  down  off  Fort  Pickens  aorain, 
and,  as  she  passed  out  to  sea  between  it  and  Fort  M'Rae,  it  was  cer- 
tainly to  have  been  expected  that  one  side  or  other  would  bring  her 
to.  Certainly  our  friend  Mr.  Brown  in  his  clipper  Oriental  would 
overhaul  us  outside,  and  there  lay  a  friendly  bottle  in  a  nest  of  ice 
waiting  for  the  gallant  sailor  who  was  to  take  farewell  of  us  according 
to  promise.  Out  we  glided  into  night  and  into  the  cool  sea  breeze, 
which  blew  fresh  and  strong  from  the  north.  In  the  distance  the 
black  form  of  the  Powhatan  could  be  just  distinguished  ;  the  rest  of 
the  squadron  could  not  be  made  out  by  either  eye  or  glass,  nor  was 
the  schooner  in  sight.  A  lantern  was  hoisted  by  my  orders,  and  was 
kept  aft  for  some  time  after  the  schooner  was  clear  of  the  forts.  Still 
no  schooner.  The  wind  was  not  very  favorable  for  running  toward 
the  Powhatan,  and  it  was  too  late  to  approach  her  with  perfect  confi- 
dence from  the  enemy's  side.  Besides,  it  was  late  ;  time  pressed.  The 
Oriental  was  surely  lying  off  somewhere  to  the  westward,  and  the 
word  was  given  to  make  sail,  and  soon  the  Diana  was  bowling  along 
shore,  where  the  sea  melted  away  in  a  fiery  line  of  foam  so  close  to  us 
that  a  man  could,  in  nautical  phrase,  "  shy  a  biscuit"  on  the  sand. 
The  wind  was  abeam,  and  the  Diana  seemed  to  breathe  it  through  her 
sails,  and  flew  along  at  an  astonishing  rate  through  the  phosphorescent 
waters  with  a  prow  of  flame  and  a  bubbling  wake  of  dancing  meteor- 
like streams  flowing  from  her  helm,  as  though  it  were  a  furnace  Avhence 
boiled  a  stream  of  liquid  metal.  "  Xo  sign  of  the  Oriental  on  our  lee- 
bow  ?"  "  Nothin'  at  all  in  sight,  sir."  The  sharks  and  huge  rays  flew 
off  from  the  shore  as  we  passed  and  darted  out  seaward,  marking  their 
runs  in  brilliant  trails  of  light.  On  sped  the  Diana,  but  no  Oriental 
came  in  sight. 

I  was  tired.  The  sun  had  been  very  hot ;  the  ride  through  the 
batteries,  the  visits  to  quarters,  the  excursion  to  Pickens,  had  found 
out  my  weak  places,  and  my  head  was  aching  and  legs  fatigued,  and 
so  I  thought  I  would  turn  in  for  a  short  time,  and  I  dived  into  the 
shades  below,  where  my  comrades  were  already  sleeping,  and  kickin;^ 
off  my  boots,  lapsed  into  a  state  which  rendered  me  indifferent  to  the 
attentions  no  doubt  lavished  upon  me  by  the  numerous  little  familiarrj 
who  recreate  in  the  well-peopled  timbers.  It  never  entered  into  my 
head,  even  in  my  dreams,  that  the  captain  would  break  the  blockade  if 


60  picrruRES  of  southern  life. 

he  could — particularly  as  his  papers  had  not  been  indorsed,  and  the 
penalties  would  be  sharp  and  sure  if  he  were  caught.  But  the  confi- 
dence of  coasting  captains  in  the  extraordinary  capabilities  of  their 
craft  is  a  madness — a  hallucination  so  strong  that  no  danger  or  risk 
will  prevent  their  acting  upon  it  whenever  they  can.  I  was  assured 
once  by  the  "  captain"  of  a  Billyboy,  that  he  could  run  to  windward 
of  any  frigate  in  Her  Majesty's  service,  and  there  is  not  a  skipper  from 
Hartlepool  to  Whitstable  who  does  not  believe  his  own  Mary  Ann  or 
Three  Grandmothers  is,  on  certain  "  pints,"  able  to  bump  her  fat  bows 
and  scuttle-shaped  stern  faster  through  the  seas  than  any  clipper  which 
ever  flew  a  pendant.  I  had  been  some  two  hours  and  a  half  asleep, 
when  I  was  awakened  by  a  whispering  in  the  little  cabin.  Charley, 
the  negro  cook,  ague-stricken  with  terror,  was  leaning  over  the  bed, 
and  in  broken  French  was  chattering  through  his  teeth  :  "  Monsieur^ 
Monsieur,  nous  sommes  perdus  !  Le  hatement  de  guerre  nous  poursuit. 
U  n'a  pas  encore  tire.  II  va  tirer  hientot !  Oh,  mon  Dieu !  mon 
DieuV  Through  the  hatchway  I  could  see  the  skipper  was  at  the 
helm,  glancing  anxiously  from  the  compass  to  the  quivering  reef-points 
of  his  mainsail.  "  What's  all  this  we  hear,  captain  ?"  "  Well,  sir, 
there's  been  somethin'  a  runnin'  after  us  these  two  hours"  (very 
slowly).  "But  I  don't  think  he'll  keech  us  up  no  how  this  time." 
"  But,  good  heavens !  you  know  it  may  be  the  Oriental,  with  Mr. 
Brown  on  board."  "Ah,  wall — may  bee.  But  he  kept  quite  close 
up  on  me  in  the  dark — it  gave  me  quite  a  stark  when  I  seen  him. 
May  be,  says  I,  he's  a  privateerin'  chap,  and  so  I  draws  in  on  shore 
close  as  I  cud, — gets  mee  centre-board  in,  and,  says  I,  Fll  see  what 
yer  med  of,  mee  boy.  He  an't  a  gaining  much  on  us."  I  looked, 
and  sure  enough,  about  half  or  three-quarters  of  a  mile  astern,  and 
somewhat  to  leeward  of  us,  a  vessel,  with  sails  and  hull  all  blended 
into  a  black  lump,  was  standing  on  in  pursuit.  I  strained  my  eyes 
aiid  furbished  up  the  glasses,  but  could  make  out  nothing  definite. 
The  skipper  held  grimly  on.  The  shore  was  so  close  we  could  have 
almost  leaped  into  the  surf,  for  the  Diana,  when  her  centre-board  is  up, 
does  not  draw  much  over  four  feet.  "  Captain,  I  think  you  had  better 
shake  your  wind,  and  see  who  he  is.  It  may  be  Mr.  Brown."  "  Mees> 
ter  Brown  or  no  I  can't  help  carrine  on  now.  I'd  be  on  the  bank  out> 
side  in  a  minit  if  I  didn't  hold  my  course."  The  captain  had  his  own 
way ;  he  argued  that  if  it  was  the  Oriental  she  would  have  fired  a 
blank  gun  long  ago  to  bring  us  to  ;  and  as  to  not  calling  us  when  the 
sail  was  discovered  he  took  up  the  general  line  of  the  cruelty  of  dis- 
turbing people  when  they're  asleep.  Ah  !  captain,  you  knew  well  it 
was  Mr.  Brown,  as  you  let  out  when  we  were  off  Fort  Morgan.     By 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  61 

keeping  so  close  in  shore  in  shoal  water  the  Diana  was  enabled  to 
creep  along  to  windward  of  the  stranger,  who  evidently  was  deeper 
than  ourselves.  See  there  !  Her  sails  shiver !  so  one  of  the  crew 
says  ;  she's  struck  !  But  she's  off  again,  and  is  after  us.  We  are  just 
within  range,  and  one's  eyes  become  quite  blinky,  watching  for  the 
flash  from  the  bow,  but,  whether  privateer  or  United  States  schooner 
she  was  too  magnanimous  to  fire.  A  stern  chase  is  a  long  chase.  It 
must  now  be  somewhere  about  two  in  the  morning.  Nearer  and  nearer 
to  shore  creeps  the  Diana.  "  I'll  lead  him  into  a  pretty  mess,  whoever 
he  is,  if  he  tries  to  follow  me  through  the  Swash,"  grins  the  skipper. 
The  Swash  is  a  very  shallow,  narrow,  and  dangerous  passage  into 
Mobile  Bay,  between  the  sand-banks  on  the  east  of  the  main  channel 
and  the  shore.  The  Diana  is  now  only  some  nine  or  ten  miles  from 
Fort  Morgan,  guarding  the  entrance  to  Mobile.  Soon  an  uneasy  danc- 
ing motion  welcomes  her  approach  to  the  Swash.  "  Take  a  cast  of 
the  lead,  John  !"  "  Nine  feet."  "  Good  !  Again  !"  "  Seven  feet." 
"Good — Charley,  bring  the  lantern."  (Oh,  Charley,  why  did  that 
lantern  go  out  just  as  it  was  wanted,  and  not  only  expose  us  to  the 
most  remarkable  amount  of  "  cussin',"  imprecation,  and  strange  oaths 
our  ears  ever  heard,  but  expose  our  lives  and  your  head  to  more  immi- 
nent danger  ?)  But  so  it  was,  just  at  the  critical  juncture  when  a  turn 
of  the  helm  port  or  starboard  made  the  difference,  perhaps,  between 
life  and  death,  light  after  light  went  out,  and  the  captain  went  dancing 
mad  after  intervals  of  deadly  calmness,  as  the  mate  sang  out,  "  Five 
feet  and  a  half !  seven  feet— six  feet — eight  feet — five  feet — four  feet 
and  a  half — (Oh,  Lord  !) — six  feet,"  and  so  on,  through  a  measurement 
of  death  by  inches,  not  at  all  agreeable.  And  where  was  Mr.  Brown 
all  this  time  ?  Really,  we  were  so  much  interested  in  the  state  of  the 
lead-line,  and  in  the  very  peculiar  behavior  of  the  lanterns  which  would 
not  burn,  that  we  scarcely  cared  much  when  we  heard  from  the  odd 
hand  and  Charley  that  she  had  put  about,  after  running  aground  once 
or  twice,  they  thought,  as  soon  as  we  entered  the  Swash,  and  had  van- 
ished rapidly  in  the  darkness.  It  was  little  short  of  a  miracle  that  we 
got  past  the  elbow,  for  just  at  the  critical  moment,  in  a  channel  not 
more  than  a  hundred  yards  broad,  with  pnly  six  feet  of  water,  the  bin- 
nacle light,  which  had  burned  steadily  for  a  minute,  sank  with  a  sputter 
into  black  night.  When  the  passage  was  accomplished,  the  captain 
relieved  his  mind  by  chasing  Charley  into  a  corner,  and  with  a  shark, 
which  he  held  by  the  tail,  as  the  first  weapon  that  came  to  hand,  in- 
flicting on  him  condign  punishment,  and  then  returning  to  the  helm. 
Charley,  however,  knew  Lis  master,  for  he  slyly  seized  the  shark  and 
flung  his  defunct  corpse  overboard  before  another  fit  of  passion  came 


G2  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

on,  and  by  tlie  morning  the  skipper  was  good  friends  with  him,  after 
he  had  relieved  himself,  by  a  series  of  castigations  of  the  negligent 
lamplighter  with  every  variety  of  Rhadamanthine  implement. 

The  Diana  had  thus  distinguished  her  dirty  little  person  by  break- 
ing a  blockade,  and  giving  an  excellent  friend  of  ours  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  (if  it  was,  indeed  Mr.  Brown),  as  w^ell  as  giving  us  a  very  un- 
enviable character  for  want  of  hospitality  and  courtesy ;  and,  for  both, 
I  beg  to  apologize  with  this  account  of  the  transaction.  But  she  had 
a  still  greater  triumph.  As  she  approached  Fort  Morgan,  all  was 
silence.  The  morning  was  just  showing  a  gray  streak  in  the  east. 
"  Why,  they're  all  asleep  at  the  fort,"  observed  the  indomitable  cap- 
tain, and,  regardless  of  guns  or  sentries,  down  went  his  helm,  and  away 
the  Diana  thumped  into  Mobile  Bay,  and  stole  off  in  the  darkness 
toward  the  opposite  shore.  There  w^as,  however,  a  miserable  day  be- 
fore us.  When  the  light  fairly  broke  we  had  got  only  a  few  miles  in- 
side, a  stiff  northerly  w^ind  blew  right  in  our  teeth,  and  the  whole  of 
the  blessed  day  we  spent  in  tacking  backward  and  forward  between 
one  low  shore  and  another  low  shore,  in  water  the  color  of  pea-soup, 
so  that  temper  and  patience  were  exhausted,  and  we  were  reduced  to 
such  a  state  that  we  took  intense  pleasure  in  meeting  with  a  drowning 
alligator.  He  was  a  nice-looking  young  fellow  about  ten  feet  long, 
and  had  evidently  lost  his  way,  and  was  going  out  to  sea  bodily,  but  it 
would  have  been  the  height  of  cruelty  to  take  him  on  board  our  ship 
miserable  as  he  was,  though  he  passed  wdthin  two  yards  of  us.  There 
was  to  be  sure  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Mobile  in  every  possible  view,  far 
and  near,  east  and  west,  and  in  a  lump  and  run  out,  but  it  was  not 
relished  any  more  than  our  dinner,  which  consisted  of  a  very  gamy 
Bologna  sausage,  pig  who  had  not  decided  whether  he  would  be  pork 
or  bacon,  and  onions  fried  in  a  terrible  preparation  of  Charley  the  cook. 
At  five  in  the  evening,  however,  having  been  nearly  fourteen  hours  beat- 
ing about  twenty-seven  miles,  we  were  landed  at  an  outlying  wharf,  and 
I  started  off  for  the  Battle  House  and  rest.  The  streets  are  filled  wath 
the  usual  rub-a-dub-dubbing  bands,  and  parades  of  companies  of  the 
citizens  in  grotesque  garments  and  armament,  all  looking  full  of  fight 
and  secession.  I  write  my  name  in  the  hotel  book  at  the  bar  as  usual. 
Instantly  young  Vigilance  Committee,  who  has  been  resting  his  heels 
high  in  air,  with  one  eye  on  the  staircase  and  the  other  on  the  end  of 
his  cigar,  stalks  forth  and  reads  my  style  and  title,  and  I  have  the 
satisfaction  of  slapping  the  door  in  his  face  as  he  saunters  after  me  to 
my  room,  and  looks  curiously  in  to  see  how  a  man  takes  off"  his  boots. 
They  are  all  very  anxious  in  the  evening  to  know  what  I  think  about 
Pickens  and  Pensacola,  and  I  am  pleased  to  tell  the  citizens  I  think  it 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIEE.  63 

will  be  a  very  tough  affair  on  both  whenever  it  comes.     I  proceed  to 
New  Orleans  on  Monday, 


New-Orleans,  May  25,  1861. 
There  are  doubts  arising  in  my  mind  respecting  the  number  of 
armed  men  actually  in  the  field  in  the  South,  and  the  amount  of  arms 
in  the  possession  of  the  Federal  forces.  The  constant  advertisements 
and  appeals  for  "  a  few  more  men  to  complete"  such  and  such  com- 
panies furnish  some  sort  of  evidence  that  men  are  still  wanting.  But  a 
painful  and  startling  insight  into  the  manner  in  which  "volunteers" 
have  been  sometimes  obtained  has  been  afforded  to  me  at  New  Orleans. 
In  no  country  in  the  world  have  outrages  on  British  subjects  been  so 
frequent  and  so  wanton  as  in  the  States  of  America.  They  have  been 
frequent,  perhaps,  because  they  have  generally  been  attended  with  im- 
punity. Englishmen,  however,  will  be  still  a  little  surprised  to  hear 
that  within  a  few  days  British  subjects  living  in  New  Orleans  have  been 
seized,  knocked  down,  carried  off  from  their  labor  at  the  wharf  and  the 
workshop,  and  forced  by  violence  to  serve  in  the  "  volunteer"  ranks  ' 
These  cases  are  not  isolated.  They  are  not  in  twos  and  threes,  but  in 
tens  and  twenties ;  they  have  not  occurred  stealthily  or  in  by-ways ; 
they  have  taken  place  in  the  open  day,  and  in  the  streets  of  New 
Orleans.  These  men  have  been  dragged  along  like  felons,  protesting 
in  vain  that  they  were  British  subjects.  Fortunately,  their  friends  be- 
thought them  that  there  was  still  a  British  consul  in  the  city,  who 
would  protect  his  countrymen — English,  Irish,  or  Scotch.  Mr.  Mure, 
when  he  heard  of  the  reports  and  of  the  evidence,  made  energetic  rep- 
resentations to  the  authorities,  who,  after  some  evasion,  gave  orders 
that  the  impressed  "  volunteers"  should  be  discharged,  and  the  "  Tiger 
Rifles"  and  other  companies  were  deprived  of  the  services  of  the  thirty- 
five  British  subjects  whom  they  had  taken  from  their  usual  avocations. 
The  mayor  promises  that  it  shall  not  occur  again.  It  is  high  time 
that  such  acts  should  be  put  a  stop  to,  and  that  the  mob  of  New 
Orleans  should  be  taught  to  pay  some  regard  to  the  usages  of  civilized 
nations.  There  are  some  strange  laws  here  and  elsewhere  in  reference 
to  compulsory  service  on  the  part  of  foreigners  which  it  would  be  well 
to  inquire  into,  and  Lord  John  Russell  may  be  able  to  deal  with  them 
at  a  favorable  opportunity.  As  to  any  liberty  of  opinion  or  real  free- 
dom here,  the  boldest  Southerner  would  not  dare  to  say  a  shadow  of 
either  exists.  It  may  be  as  bad  in  the  North,  for  all  I  know  ;  but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  in  all  my  communications  I  speak  of  things 
as  they  appear  to  me  to  be  in  the  place  where  I  am  at  the  time.      The 


64  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

most  cruel  and  atrocious  acts  are  perpetrated  by  the  rabble  who  style 
themselves  citizens.  The  national  failing  of  curiosity  and  prying  into 
other  people's  aifairs  is  now  rampant,  and  assumes  the  name  and  airs 
of  patriotic  vigilance.  Every  stranger  is  watched,  every  word  is  noted, 
espionage  commands  every  keyhole  and  every  letter-box;  love  of 
country  takes  to  evesdropping,  and  freedom  shaves  men's  heads,  and 
packs  men  up  in  boxes  for  the  utterance  of  "Abolition  sentiments." 
In  this  city  there  is  a  terrible  substratum  of  crime  and  vice,  violence, 
misery,  and  murder,  over  which  the  wheels  of  the  Cotton  King's 
chariot  rumble  gratingly,  and  on  which  rest  in  dangerous  security  the 
feet  of  his  throne. 

There  are  numbers  of  negroes  who  are  sent  out  into  the  streets 
every  day  with  orders  not  to  return  with  less  than  seventy- five  cents 
— any  thing  more  they  can  keep.  But  if  they  do  not  gain  that — 
about  3s.  6d.  a  day — they  are  liable  to  be  punished ;  they  may  be  put  into 
jail  on  charges  of  laziness,  and  may  be  flogged  ad  libttum,  and  are 
sure  to  be  half  starved.  Can  any  thing,  then,  be  more  suggestive  than 
this  paragraph,  which  appeared  in  last  night's  papers.  "  Onlj/  three 
coroners'  inquests  were  held  yesterday  on  personis  found  drowned  in 
the  river,  names  unknown !"  The  italics  are  mine.  Over  and  over 
again  has  the  boast  been  repeated  to  me,  that  on  the  plantations  lock 
and  key  are  unknown  or  unused  in  the  planters'  houses.  But  in  the 
cities  they  are  much  used,  though  scarcely  trusted.  It  appears,  indeed, 
that  unless  a  slave  has  made  up  his  or  her  mind  to  incur  the  dreadful 
penalties  of  flight,  there  would  be  no  inducement  to  commit  theft,  for 
money  or  jewels  would  be  useless ;  search  would  be  easy,  detection 
nearly  certain.  That  all  the  slaves  are  not  indiff'erent  to  the  issues  be- 
fore them,  is  certain.  At  the  house  of  a  planter,  the  other  day,  one 
of  them  asked  my  friend,  "  Will  we  be  made  to  work,  massa,  when  ole 
English  come  ?"  An  old  domestic  in  the  house  of  a  gentleman  in  this 
city  said,  "  There  are  few  whites  in  this  place  who  ought  not  to  be 
killed  for  their  cruelty  to  us."  Another  said,  "Oh,  just  wait'- till  they 
attack  Pickens !"  These  little  hints  are  significant  enough,  coupled 
with  the  notices  of  runaways,  and  the  lodgments  in  the  police  jails,  to 
show^  tliat  all  is  not  quiet  below  the  surface.  The  holders,  however, 
are  firm,  and  there  have  been  many  paragraphs  stating  that  slaves  have 
contributed  to  the  various  funds  for  state  defence,  and  that  they  gener- 
ally show  the  very  best  spirit. 

By  the  proclamation  of  Governor  Magoffin,  a  copy  of  which  I  enclose, 
you  will  see  that  the  governor  of  the  commonwealth  of  Kentucky  and 
commander-in-chief  of  all  her  military  forces  on  land  or  water,  warns 
all   states,  separately  or  united,   especially  the   United  States  and   the 


PICTURES    OP    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  .  65 

Confederate  States,  that  he  will  fight  their  troops  if  they  attempt  to 
enter  his  commonwealth.  Thus  Kentucky  sets  up  for  herself,  while 
Virginia  is  on  the  eve  of  destruction,  and  an  actual  invasion  has  taken 
place  on  her  soil.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  of  comprehension  that, 
with  the  numerous  troops,  artillery,  and  batteries,  which  the  Confederate 
journals  asserted  to  be  in  readiness  to  repel  attack,  an  invasion  which 
took  place  in  face  of  the  enemy,  and  was  effected  over  a  broad  river, 
with  shores  readily  defensible,  should  have  been  unresisted.  Here  it  is 
said  there  is  a  mighty  plan,  in  pursuance  of  which  the  United  States 
troops  are  to  be  allowed  to  make  their  way  into  Virginia,  that  they  may 
at  some  convenient  place  be  eaten  up  by  their  enemies;  and  if  we  hear 
that  the  Confederates  at  Harper's  Ferry  retain  their  position,  one  may 
believe  some  such  plan  really  exists,  although  it  is  rather  doubtful  strat- 
egy to  permit  the  United  States  forces  to  gain  possession  of  the  right 
bank  of  the  Potomac.  Should  the  position  at  Harper's  Ferry  be  really 
occupied  with  a  design  of  using  it  as  a  point  (Tappui  for  movements 
against  the  North,  and  any  large  number  of  troops  be  withdrawn  from 
Annapolis,  Washington  and  Baltimore,  so  as  to  leave  those  places  com- 
paratively undefended,  an  irruption  in  force  of  the  Confederates  on  the 
right  flank  and  in  rear  of  General  Scott's  army,  might  cause  most  seri- 
ous inconvenience,  and  endanger  his  communications,  if  not  the  posses- 
sion of  the  places  indicated. 

Looking  at  the  map,  it  is  easy  to  comprehend  that  a  march  south- 
ward from  Alexandria  could  be  combined  with  an  offensive  movement 
by  the  forces  said  to  be  concentrated  in  and  around  Fortress  Monroe,  so 
as  to  place  Richmond  itself  in  danger,  and,  if  any  such  measure  is  contem- 
plated, a  battle  must  be  fought  in  that  vicinity,  or  the  prestige  of  the 
South  will  receive  very  great  damage.  It  is  impossible  for  any  one  to 
understand  the  movement  of  the  troops  on  both  sides.  These  compa- 
nies are  scattered  broadcast  over  the  enormous  expanse  of  the  states, 
and,  where  concentrated  in  any  considerable  numbers,  seem  to  have 
had  their  position  determined  rather  by  local  circumstances  than  by  con- 
siderations connected  w^ith  the  general  plan  of  a  large  campaign. 

In  a  few  days  the  object  of  the  recent  movement  wall  be  better  under- 
stood, and,  it  is  probable  that  your  correspondent  at  New  York  will  send, 
by  the  same  mail  which  carries  this,  exceedingly  iinpoitant  information, 
to  which  I,  in  my  present  position,  can  have  no  access.  The  influence 
of  the  blockade  will  be  severely  felt,  combined  w  ith  the  strict  interrup- 
tion of  all  intercourse  by  the  Mississippi.  Although  the  South  boasts 
of  its  resources  and  of  its  amazing  richness  and  abundance  of  produce, 
the  constant  advice  in  the  journals  to  increase  the  breadth  of  land  under 
corn,  and  to  neglect  the  cotton  crop  in  consideration  of  the  paramount 


66  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

importance  of  the  cause,  indicates  an  apprehension  of  a  scarcity  of  food 
if  the  struggle  be  prolonged. 

Under  any  circumstances,  the  patriotic  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  are 
so  anxious  for  the  war,  must  make  up  their  minds  to  suffer  a  little  in  the 
flesh.  All  they  can  depend  on  is  a  supply  of  home  luxuries :  Indian 
corn  and  wheat,  the  flesh  of  pigs,  eked  out  with  a  small  supply  of  beef 
and  mutton,  will  constitute  the  staple  of  their  food.  Butter  there  will 
be  none,  and  wine  will  speedily  rise  to  an  enormous  price.  Nor  will 
coffee  and  tea  be  had,  except  at  a  rate  which  will  place  them  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  mass  of  the  community.  These  are  the  smallest  sacrifices 
of  war.  The  blockade  is  not  yet  enforced  here,  and  the  privateers  of 
the  port  are  extremely  active,  and  have  captured  vessels  with  more  en- 
ergy than  wisdom. 

The  day  before  yesterday,  ships  belonging  to  the  United  States  in 
that  river  were  seized  by  the  Confederation  a^uthorities,  on  the  ground 
that  war  had  broken  out,  and  that  the  time  of  grace  accorded  to  the 
enemy's  traders  had  expired.  Great  was  the  rush  to  the  consul's  oflSce 
to  transfer  the  menaced  property  from  ownership  under  the  stars  and 
stripes  to  British  hands  ;  but  Mr.  Mure  refused  to  recognize  any  trans- 
action of  the  kind,  unless  sale  bona  fide  had  been  effected  before  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Confederate  marshals. 

At  Charleston  the  blockade  has  been  raised,  owing,  apparently,  to 
some  want  of  information  or  of  means  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
government,  and  considerable  inconvenience  may  be  experienced  by 
them  in  consequence.  On  the  11th,  the  United  States  steam-frigate 
Niao;ara  appeared  outside  and  warned  off"  several  British  ships,  and  on 
the  13th  she  was  visited  by  Mr.  Bunch,  our  consul,  who  was  positively 
assured  by  the  officers  on  board  that  eight  or  ten  vessels  would  be  down 
to  join  in  enforcing  the  blockade.  On  the  15th,  however,  the  Niagara 
departed,  leaving  the  port  open,  and  several  vessels  have  since  run  in 
and  obtained  fabulous  freights,  suggesting  to  the  minds  of  the  owners 
of  the  vessels  which  were  warned  oflf  the  propriety  of  making  enormous 
demands  for  compensation.  The  Southerners  generally  beheve  not  only 
that  their  Confederacy  will  be  acknowledged,  but  that  the  blockade  will 
be  disregarded  by  England.  Their  affection  for  her  is  proportionably 
prodigious,  and  reminds  one  of  the  intensity  of  the  gratitude  which  con- 
sists in  lively  expectations  of  favors  to  come. 


PICTURES    OP    SOUTHERN   LIPE.  67 


New  Orleans,  May  21,  1861. 
Yesterday  morning  early  I  left  Mobile  in  the  steamer  Florida,  which 
arrived  in  the  Lake  of  Pontchartrain,  late  at  night,  or  early  this  morn- 
ing. The  voyage,  if  it  can  be  called  so,  would  have  offered,  in  less  ex- 
citing times,  much  that  was  interesting — certainly,  to  a  stranger,  a  good 
deal  that  was  novel — for  our  course  lay  inside  a  chain,  almost  uninter- 
rupted, of  reefs,  covered  with  sand  and  pine-trees,  exceedingly  narrow, 
so  that  the  surf  and  waves  of  the  ocean  beyond  could  be  seen  rolling  in 
foam  through  the  foliage  of  the  forest,  or  on  the  white  beach,  while  the 
sea  lake  on  which  our  steamer  was  speeding  lay  in  a  broad,  smooth  sheet, 
just  crisped  by  the  breeze,  between  the  outward  barrier  and  the  wooded 
shores  of  the  mainland.  Innumerable  creeks,  or  "  bayous,"  as  they  are 
called,  pierce  the  gloom  of  these  endless  pines.  Now  and  then  a  sail 
could  be  made  out,  stealing  through  the  mazes  of  the  marshy  waters. 
If  the  mariner  knows  his  course,  he  may  find  deep  water  in  most  of  the 
channels  from  the  outer  sea  into  these  inner  waters,  on  which  the  peo- 
ple of  the  South  w^ill  greatly  depend  for  any  coasting-trade  and  supplies 
coastwise,  they  may  require,  as  well  as  for  the  safe  retreat  of  their  pri- 
vateers. A  few  miles  from  Mobile,  the  steamer  turning  out  of  the  bay, 
entered  upon  the  series  of  these  lakes  through  a  narrow  channel  called 
Grant's  Pass,  which  some  enterprising  person,  not  improbably  of  Scot- 
tish extraction,  constructed  for  his  own  behoof,  by  an  ingenious  water- 
cut,  and  for  the  use  of  which,  and  of  a  little  iron  lighthouse  that  he  has 
built  close  at  hand,  on  the  model  of  a  pepper-castor,  he  charges  toll 
on  passing  vessels.  This  island  is  scarcely  three  feet  above  the  water ; 
it  is  not  over  20  yards  broad  and  150  yards  long.  A  number  of  men 
w^ere,  however,  busily  engaged  in  throwing  up  the  sand,  and  amis 
gleamed  amid  some  tents  pitched  around  the  solitary  wooden  shed  in 
the  centre.  A  schooner  lay  at  the  wharf,  laden  with  two  guns  and  sand- 
bags, and  as  we  passed  through  the  narrow  channel  several  men  in  mil- 
itary uniform,  who  were  on  board,  took  their  places  in  a  boat  which 
pushed  off  for  them,  and  were  conveyed  to  their  tiny  station,  of  which 
one  shell  would  make  a  dust  heap.  The  Mobilians  are  fortifying  them- 
selves as  best  they  can,  and  seem,  not  unadvisedly,  jealous  of  gunboats 
and  small  war-steamers.  On  more  than  one  outlying  sand-bank  toward 
New  Orleans,  are  they  to  be  seen  at  work  on  other  batteries,  and 
they  are  busied  in  repairing,  as  well  as  they  can,  old  Spanish  and 
new  United  States  works  which  had  been  abandoned,  or  which  were 
never  completed.  The  news  has  just  been  reported,  indeed,  that 
the  batteries  they  were  preparing  on  Ship  Island  have  been  destroyed 


68  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

and  burnt  by  a  vessel  of  war  of  the  United  States.  For  the  whole  day 
we  saw  only  a  few  coasting  craft  and  the  return  steamers  from  New 
Orleans ;  but  in  the  evening  a  large  schooner,  which  sailed  like  a  witch 
and  was  crammed  with  men,  challenged  my  attention,  and  on  looking 
at  her  through  the  glass  I  could  make  out  reasons  enough  for  desiring 
to  avoid  her  if  one  was  a  quiet,  short-handed,  well-filled  old  merchant- 
man. There  could  be  no  mistake  about  certain  black  objects  on  the 
deck.  She  lay  as  low  as  a  yacht,  and  there  were  some  fifty  or  sixty 
men  in  the  waist  and  forecastle.  On  approaching  New  Orleans,  there 
are  some  settlements  rather  than  cities,  although  they  are  called  by  the 
latter  title,  visible  on  the  right  hand,  embowered  in  woods  and  stretch- 
ing along  the  beach.  Such  are  the  "  Mississippi  City,"  Pass  Cagoula, 
and  Pass  Christian,  &c. — all  resorts  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  Orleans 
during  the  summer  heats  and  the  epidemics- which  play  such  havoc  with 
life  from  time  to  time.  Seen  from  the  sea,  these  huge  hamlets  look  very 
picturesque.  The  detached  villas,  of  every  variety  of  architecture,  are 
painted  brightly,  and  stand  in  gardens  in  the  midst  of  magnolias  and 
rhododendrons.  Very  long  and  slender  piers  lead  far  into  the  sea  be- 
fore the  very  door,  and  at  the  extremity  of  each  there  is  a  bathing-box 
for  the  inmates.  The  general  elFect  of  one  of  these  settlements,  with  its 
light  domes  and  spires,  long  lines  of  whitewashed  railings,  and  houses 
of  every  hue  set  in  the  dark  green  of  the  pines,  is  very  pretty.  The 
steamer  touched  at  two  of  them.  .  There  was  a  motley  group  of  colored 
people  on  the  jetty,  a  few  whites,  of  whom  the  males  were  nearly  all  in 
uniform ;  a  few  bales  of  goods  were  landed  or  put  on  board,  and  that 
was  all  one  could  see  of  the  life  of  that  place.  Our  passengers  never 
ceased  talking  politics  all  day,  except  when  they  were  eating  or  drink- 
ing, for  I  regret  to  say  they  can  continue  to  chew  and  to  spit  while  they 
are  engaged  in  political  discussion.  Some  were  rude  provincials  in  uni- 
form. One  was  an  acquaintance  from  the  far  East,  who  had  been  a 
lieutenant  on  board  of  the  Minnesota,  and  had  resigned  his  commission 
in  order  to  take  service  under  the  Confederate  flag.  The  fiercest  among 
them  all  was  a  thin  little  lady,  who  uttered  certain  enei-getic  aspiiations 
for  the  possession  of  portions  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  person,  and  who  was  kind 
enough  to  express  intense  satisfaction  at  the  intelligence  that  there  was 
small-pox  among  the  garrison  at  Monroe.  In  the  evening  a  little  difl^i- 
culty  occurred  among  some  of  the  military  gentlemen,  during  which  one 
of  the  logicians  drew  a  revolver,  and  presented  it  at  the  head  of  the  gen- 
tleman who  was  opposed  to  his  peculiar  views,  but  I  am  happy  to  say 
that  an  arrangement,  to  which  I  was  an  unwilling  "  pai'ty,"  for  the  row 
took  place  within  a  yard  of  me,  was  entered  into  for  a  fight  to  come  off 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  69 

on  shore  in  two  days  after  they  landed,  which  led  to  the  postponement 
of  immediate  murder. 

The  entrance  to  Ponchartrain  lake  is  infamous  for  the  abundance  of 
its  mosquitos,  and  it  was  with  no  small  satisfaction  that  we  experienced 
a  small  tornado,  a  thunderstorm,  and  a  breeze  of  wind  which  saved  us 
from  their  fury.  It  is  a  dismal  canal  through  a  swamp.  At  daylight, 
the  vessel  lay  alongside  a  wharf  surrounded  by  small  boats  and  bathing 
stations.  A  railway  shed  receives  us  on  shore,  and  a  train  is  soon  ready 
to  start  for  the  city,  which  is  six  miles  distant.  For  a  few  hundred 
yards  the  line  passes  between  wooden  houses,  used  as  restaurants,  or 
"  restaurats,"  as  they  are  called  hereaway,  kept  by  people  with  French 
names  and  using  the  French  tongue ;  then  the  rail  plunges  through  a 
swamp,  dense  as  an  Indian  jungle,  and  with  the  overflowings  of  the 
Mississippi  creeping  in  feeble,  shallow  currents  over  the  black  mud. 
Presently  the  spires  of  churches  are  seen  rising  above  the  underwood 
and  rushes.  Then  we  come  out  on  a  wide  marshy  plain,  in  which 
flocks  of  cattle,  up  to  the  belly  in  mud,  are  floundering  to  get  at  the 
rich  herbage  on  the  unbroken  surface.  Next  comes  a  wide-spread  sub- 
urb of  exceedingly  broad  lanes,  lined  with  small  one-storied  houses. 
The  inhabitants  are  pale,  lean,  and  sickly  ;  and  there  is  about  the  men 
a  certain  look,  almost  peculiar  to  the  fishy-fleshy  populations  of  Le- 
vantine towns,  which  I  cannot  describe,  but  which  exists  all  along  the 
Mediterranean  seaboard,  and  crops  out  here  again.  The  drive  through 
badly-paved  streets  enables  us  to  see  that  there  is  an  air  of  French  civi- 
lization about  New  Orleans.  The  streets  are  wisely  adapted  to  the 
situation ;  they  are  not  so  wide  as  to  permit  the  sun  to  have  it  all  his 
own  way  from  rising  to  setting.  The  shops  are  "  magasins ;"  cafes 
abound.  The  colored  population  looks  well  dressed,  and  is  going  to 
mass  or  market  iu  the  early  morning.  The  pavements  are  crowded 
with  men  in  uniform,  in  which  the  taste  of  France  is  generally  followed. 
The  carriage  stops  at  last,  and  rest  comes  gratefully  after  the  stormy 
night,  the  mosquitos,  "  the  noise  of  the  captains"  (at  the  bar),  and  the 
shouting. 

May  22. — The  prevalence  of  the  war  spirit  here  is  in  every  thing 
somewhat  exaggerated  by  the  fervor  of  Gallic  origin,  and  the  violence 
of  popular  opinion  and  the  tyranny  of  the  mass  are  as  potent  as  in  any 
place  in  the  South.  The  great  house  of  Brown  Brothers,  of  Liverpool 
and  New  York,  has  closed  its  business  here  in  consequence  of  the  in- 
timidation of  the  mob,  or  as  the  phrase  is,  of  the  "  citizens,"  who  were 
"  excited"  by  seeing  that  the  firm  had  subscribed  to  the  New  York 
fund,  on  its  sudden  resurrection  after  Fort  Sumter  had  fallen.     Some 


VO  PICTUKES    OF    SOUTHERX    LIFE. 

other  houses  are  about  to  pursue  the  same  course  ]  all  large  business 
transactions  are  over  for  the  season,  and  the  migratory  population 
which  comes  here  to  trade,  has  taken  wing  much  earlier  than  usual. 
But  the  streets  are  full  of  ''  Turcos,"  and  "  Zouaves,"  and  "  Chasseurs ;" 
the  tailors  are  busy  night  and  day  on  uniforms ;  the  walls  are  covered 
with  placards  for  recruits ;  the  seamstresses  are  sewing  flags ;  the  ladies 
are  carding  lint  and  stitching  cartridge-bags.  The  newspapers  are 
crowded  with  advertisements  relating  to  the  formation  of  new  compa- 
nies of  volunteers  and  the  election  of  officers.  There  are  Pickwick 
Rifles,  Lafayette,  Beauregard,  Irish,  German,  Scotch,  Italian,  Spanish, 
Crescent,  McMahon — innumerable — rifle  volunteers  of  all  names  and 
nationalities,  and  the  Meagher  Rifles,  indignant  with  "  that  valiant  son 
of  Mars"  because  he  has  drawn  his  sword  for  the  North,  have  rebap- 
tized  themselves,  and  are  going  to  seek  glory  under  a  more  auspicious 
nomenclature.  About  New  Orleans,  I  shall  have  more  to  say  when  I 
see  more  of  it.  At  present  it  looks  very  like  an  outlying  suburb  of 
Chalons  when  the  grand  camp  is  at  its  highest  military  development, 
although  the  thermometer  is  rising  gradually,  and  obliges  one  to  know 
occasionally  that  it  can  be  95°  in  the  shade  already.  In  the  course  of 
my  journeyings  southward,  I  have  failed  to  find  much  evidence  that 
there  is  any  apprehension  on  the  part  of  the  planters  of  a  servile  insur- 
rection, or  that  the  slaves  are  taking  much  interest  in  the  coming  con- 
test, or  know  what  it  is  about.  But  I  have  my  suspicions  that  all  is 
not  right ;  paragraphs  meet  the  eye,  and  odd  sentences  stiike  the  ear, 
and  little  facts  here  and  there  come  to  the  knowledge,  which  arouse 
curiosity  and  doubt.  There  is  one  stereotyped  sentence  which  I  am 
tired  of:  "Our  negroes,  sir,  are  the  happiest,  the  most  contented,  and 
the  best  off*  of  any  people  in  the  world." 

The  violence  and  reiterancy  of  this  formula  cause  one  to  inquire 
whether  any  thing  which  demands  such  insistance  is  really  in  the  con- 
dition predicated ;  and  for  myself  I  always  say :  "  It  may  be  so,  but 
as  yet  I  do  not  see  the  proof  of  it.  The  negroes  do  not  look  to  be 
what  you  say  they  are."  For  the  present  that  is  enough  as  to  one's 
own  opinions.  Externally,  the  paragraphs  which  attract  attention,  and 
the  acts  of  the  authorities,  are  inconsistent  with  the  notion  that  the 
negroes  are  all  very  good,  very  happy,  or  at  all  contented,  not  to  speak 
of  their  being  in  the  superlative  condition  of  enjoyment ;  and  as  I  only 
see  them  as  yet  in  the  most  superficial  way,  and  under  the  most  favor- 
able circumstances,  it  may  be  that  when  the  cotton-picking  season  is 
at  its  height,  and  it  lasts  for  several  months,  when  the  labor  is  contin- 
uous from  sunrise  to  sunset,  there  is  less  reason  to  accept  the  assertions 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  71 

as  so  largely  and  generally  true  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  slaves. 
"  There  is  an  excellent  gentleman  over  there,"  said  a  friend  to  me, 
"  who  gives  his  overseers  a  premium  of  ten  dollars  on  the  birth  of 
every  child  on  his  plantation."  "  Why  so  ?"  "  Oh,  in  order  that  the 
overseers  may  not  work  the  women  in  the  family-way  overmuch." 
There  is  little  use  in  this  part  of  the  world  in  making  use  of  inferences. 
But  where  overseers  do  not  get  the  premium,  it  may  be  supposed  they 
do  work  the  pregnant  women  too  much.  Here  are  two  paragraphs 
which  do  not  look  very  well  as  they  stand. 

Those  negroes  who  were  taken  with  a  sudden  leaving  on  Sunday  night  last,  will 
save  the  country  the  expenses  of  their  burial  if  they  keej)  dark  from  these  parts. 
They  and  other  of  the  "  breden"  wnll  not  be  permitted  to  express  themselves  quite 
so  freely  in  regard, to  their  braggadocio  designs  upon  virtue,  in  the  absence  of  vol- 
unteers.—  Wilmington  ( Glintock  County,  Ohio)  Watchman  (Bepublican). 

Served  Him  Right.  One  day  last  week,  some  colored  individual,  living  near 
South  Plymouth,  made  a  threat  that,  in  case  a  civil  war  should  occur,  ''he  would 
be  one  to  ravish  the  wife  of  every  democrat,  and  to  help  murder  their  offspring, 
and  wash  his  bands  in  their  blood."  For  this  diabolical  assertion  he  was  hauled 
up  before  a  committee  of  white  citizens,  who  adjudged  him  forty  stripes  on  his 
naked  back.  He  was  accordingly  stripped,  and  the  lashes  were  laid  on  with  such 
a  good  will  that  blood  flowed  at  the  end  of  the  castigation. —  Washington  (Fayette 
County,  Ohio)  Register  {Neutral). 

It  is  reported  that  the  patrols  are  strengthened,  and  I  could  not  help 
hearing  a  charming  young  lady  say  to  another,  the  other  evening,  that 
"  she  would  not  be  afraid  to  go  back  to  the  plantation,  though  Mrs. 
Brown  Jones  said  she  was  afraid  her  negroes  were  after  mischief." 

There  is  a  great  scarcity  of  powder,  which  is  one  of  the  reasons, 
perhaps,  why  it  has  not  yet  been  expended  as  largely  as  might  be  ex- 
pected from  the  tone  and  temper  on  both  sides.  There  is  no  sulphur 
in  the  States;  nitre  and  charcoal  abound.  The  sea  is  open  to  the 
North.  There  is  no  great  overplus  of  money  on  either  side.  In  Mis- 
souri, the  interest  on  the  state  debt,  due  in  July,  wdll  be  used  to  pro- 
cure arms  for  the  state  volunteers  to  carry  on  the  war.  The  South  is 
preparing  for  the  struggle  by  sowing  a  most  nnusual  quantity  of  grain ; 
and  in  many  fields  corn  and  maize  have  been  planted  instead  of  cotton. 
"  Stay  laws,"  by  which  all  inconveniences  arising  from  the  usual  dull, 
old-fashioned  relations  between  debtor  and  creditor  are  avoided  (at 
least  by  the  debtor),  have  been  adopted  in  most  of  the  seceding  states. 
How  is  it  that  the  state  legislatures  seem  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
debtors  and  not  of  the  creditors  ? 

There  are  some  who  cling  to  the  idea  that  there  wdll  be  no  war  after 
all,  but  no  one  believes  that  the  South  will  ever  go  back  of  its  own  free 


72  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

will,  and  the  only  reason  that  can  be  given  by  those  who  hope  rather 
than  think  in  that  way  is  to  be  found  in  the  faith  that  the  North  will 
accept  some  mediation,  and  will  let  the  South  go  in  peace.  But  could 
there — can  there  be  peace?  The  frontier  question — the  adjustment  of 
various  claims — the  demands  for  indemnity,  or  for  privileges  or  exemp- 
tions, in  the  present  state  of  feeling,  can  have  but  one  result.  The  task 
of  mediation  is  sure  to  be  as  thankless  as  abortive.  Assuredly  the  prof- 
fered service  of  England  would,  on  one  side  at  least,  be  received  with 
something  like  insult.  Nothing  but  adversity  can  teach  these  people 
its  own  most  useful  lessons.  Material  prosperity  has  puffed  up  the  citi- 
zens to  an  unwholesome  state.  The  toils  and  sacrifices  of  the  old  world 
have  been  taken  by  them  as  their  birthright,  and  they  have  accepted 
the  fruits  of  all  that  the  science,  genius,  suffering,  and  trials  of  mankind 
in  time  past  have  wrought  out,  perfected,  and  won  as  their  own  pecu- 
liar inheritance,  while  they  have  ignorantly  rejected  the  advice  and 
scorned  the  lessons  with  which  these  were  accompanied. 

May  23. — The  Congress  at  Montgomery,  having  sat  with  closed  doors 
almost  since  it  met,  has  now  adjourned  till  July  the  20th,  when  it 
will  reassemble  at  Richmond,  in  Virginia,  which  is  thus  designated,  for 
the  time,  capital  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America.  Richmond,  tlie 
principal  city  of  the  Old  Dominion,  is  about  one  hundred  miles  in  a 
straight  line  south  by  west  of  Washington.  The  rival  capitals  will  thus 
be  in  very  close  proximity  by  rail  and  by  steam,  by  land  and  by  water. 
The  movement  is  significant.  It  will  tend  to  hasten  a  collision  between 
the  forces  which  are  collected  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  Potomac. 
Hitherto,  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  has  not  evinced  all  the  sagacity  and  ener- 
gy, in  a  military  sense,  which  he  is  said  to  possess.  It  was  bad  strategy 
to  menace  Washington  before  he  could  act.  His  secretary  of  w^ar,  Mr. 
Walker,  many  weeks'  ago,  in  a  public  speech,  announced  the  intention 
of  marching  upon  the  capital.  If  it  was  meant  to  do  so,  the  blow  should 
have  been  struck  silently.  If  it  was  not  intended  to  seize  upon  Wash- 
ington, the  threat  had  a  very  disastrous  effect  on  the  South,  as  it  excited 
the  North  to  immediate  action,  and  caused  General  Scott  to  concentrate 
his  troops  on  points  which  present  many  advantages  in  the  face  of  any 
operations  which  may  be  considered  necessary  along  the  lines  either  of 
defence  or  attack.  The  movement  against  the  Norfolk  navy-yard 
strengthened  Fortress  Monroe,  and  the  Potomac  and  Chesapeake  were 
secured  to  the  United  States.  The  fortified  ports  held  by  the  Virgini- 
ans and  the  Confederate  States  troops,  are  not  of  much  value  as  long  as 
the  streams  are  commanded  by  the  enemy's  steamers ;  and  General 
Scott  has  shown  that  he  has  not  outlived  either  his  reputation  or  Li-^ 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  73 

vigor  by  the  steps,  at  once  wise  and  rapid,  lie  has  taken  to  curb  the 
malcontents  in  Maryland,  and  to  open  his  communications  through  the 
city  of  Baltimore.  Although  immense  levies  of  men  may  be  got  toge- 
ther, on  both  sides,  for  purposes  of  local  defence  or  for  state  operations, 
it  seems  to  me  that  it  will  be  very  difficult  to  move  these  masses  in  reg- 
ular armies.  The  men  are  not  disposed  for  regular,  lengthened  service, 
and  there  is  an  utter  want  of  field  trains,  equipment^  and  commissadat, 
which  cannot  be  made  good  in  a  day,  a  week,  or  a  morrfh. 

The  bill  passed  by  the  Montgomery  Congress,  entitled  "  An  act  to 
raise  an  additional  military  force  to  serve  during  the  war,"  is,  in  fact,  a 
measure  to  put  into  the  hands  of  the  government;  the  control  of  irregu- 
lar bodies  of  men,  and  to  bind  them  to  regular  military  service.  With 
all  their  zeal,  the  people  of  the  South  will  not  enlist.  They  detest  the 
recruiting  sergeant,  and  Mr.  Davis  knows  enough  of  war  to  feel  hesita- 
tion in  trusting  himself  in  the  field  to  volunteers.  The  bill  authorizes 
Mr.  Davis  to  accept  volunteers  who  may  offer  their  services,  without  re- 
gard to  the  place  of  enlistment,  "  to  serve  during  the  war,  unless  sooner 
discharged."  They  may  be  accepted  in  companies,  but  Mr.  Davis  is  to 
organize  them  into  squadrons,  battalions,  or  regiments,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  field  and  staff  officers  is  reserved  especially  to  him.  The  com- 
pany officers  are  to  be  elected  by  the  men  of  the  company,  but  here 
again  Mr.  Davis  reserves  to  himself  the  right  of  veto,  and  will  only 
commission  those  officers  whose  election  he  approves. 

The  absence  of  cavalry  and  the  deficiency  of  artillery  may  prevent 
either  side  obtaining  any  decisive  results  in  one  engagement ;  but,  no 
doubt,  there  will  be  great  loss  whenever  these  large  masses  of  men  are 
fairly  opposed  to  each  other  in  the  field.  Of  the  character  of  the  North- 
ern regiments  I  can  say  nothing  more  from  actual  observation ;  nor  have 
I  yet  seen,  in  any  place,  such  a  considerable  number  of  the  troops  of  the 
Confederate  States,  moving  together,  as  would  justify  me  in  expressing 
any  opinion  with  regard  to  their  capacity  for  organized  movements, 
such  as  regular  troops  in  Europe  are  expected  to  perform.  An  intelli- 
gent and  trustworthy  observer,  taking  one  of  the  New  York  state  mili- 
tia regiments  as  a  fair  specimen  of  the  battalions  which  will  fight  for  the 
United  States,  gives  an  account  of  them  which  leads  me  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  such  regiments  are  much  superior,  when  furnished  by  the 
country,  districts,  to  those  raised  in  the  towns  and  cities.  It  appears,  in 
this  case  at  least,  that  the  members  of  the  regular  militia  companies  in 
general  send  substitutes  to  the  ranks.  Ten  of  these  companies  form  the 
regiment,  and,  in  nearly  every  instance,  they  have  been  doubled  in 
strength  by  volunteers.  Their  drill  is  exceedingly  incomplete,  and  in 
4 


74  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

forming  the  companies  there  is  a  tendency  for  the  ditferent  nationaUties 
to  keep  themselves  together.  In  the  regiment  in  question  the  rank  and 
file  often  consists  of  qnarrymen,  mechanics,  and  canal  boatmen,  moun- 
taineers from  the  Catskill,  bark  peelers,  and  timber  cutters — ungainly, 
square-built,  powerful  fellows,  with  a  Dutch  tenacity  of  purpose  crossed 
with  an  English  indifference  to  danger.  There  is  no  drunkenness  and 
no  desertion  among  them.  The  officers  are  almost  as  ignorant  of  mili- 
tary training  as  their  men.  The  colonel,  for  instance,  is  the  son  of  a 
rich  man  in  his  district,  well  educated,  and  a  man  of  travel.  Another 
officer  is  a  shipmaster.  A  third  is  an  artist ;  others  are  merchants  and 
lawyers,  and  they  are  all  busy  studying  "  Hardee's  Tactics,"  the  best 
book  for  infantry  drill  in  the  United  States.  The  men  have  come  out 
to  fight  for  what  they  consider  the  cause  of  the  country,  and  are  said 
to  have  no  particular  hatred  of  the  South,  or  of  its  inhabitants,  though 
they  think  they  are  "  a  darned  deal  too  high  and  mighty,  and  require 
to  be  wiped  down  considerably."  They  have  no  notion  as  to  the  length 
of  time  for  which  their  services  will  be  required,  and  I  am  assured  that 
not  one  of  them  has  asked  what  his  pay  is  to  be. 

Reverting  to  Montgomery,  one  may  say  without  offence  that  its 
claims  to  be  tlie  capital  of  a  republic  which  asserts  tha,t  it  is  the  rich- 
est, and  believes  that  it  will  be  the  strongest  in  the  world,  are  not  by 
any  means  evident  to  a  stranger.  Its  central  position,  which  has  refer- 
ence rather  to  a  map  than  to  the  hard  face  of  matter,  procured  for  it  a 
distinction  to  which  it  had  no  other  claim.  The  accommodations 
which  suited  the  modest  wants  of  a  state  legislature  vanished  or  were 
transmuted  into  barbarous  inconveniences  by  the  pressure  of  a  central 
government,  with  its  offices,  its  departments,  and  the  vast  crowd  of  ap- 
plicants which  flocked  thither  to  pick  up  such  crumbs  of  comfort  as 
could  be  spared  from  the  executive  table.  Never  shall  I  forget  the  dis- 
may of  myself,  and  of  the  friends  who  were  travelling  with  me,  on  our 
arrival  at  the  Exchange  Hotel,  under  circumstances  with  some  of  which 
you  are  already  acquainted.  AVith  us  were  men  of  high  position, 
members  of  Congress,  senators,  ex-governors,  and  General  Beauregard 
himself.  But  to  no  one  v/as  greater  accommodation  extended  than 
could  be  furnished  by  a  room  held,  under  a  sort  of  ryot-Avarree  tenure, 
in  common  wdth  a  community  of  strangers.  My  room  was  shown  to 
me.  It  contained' four  large  four-post  beds,  a  ricketty  table,  and  some 
chairs  of  infirm  purpose  and  fundamental  unsoundness.  The  floor  was 
carpetless,  covered  with  litter  of  paper  and  ends  of  cigars,  and  stained 
with  tobacco  juice.  The  broken  glass  of  the  window  aftorded  no  un- 
grateful means  of  ventilation.     One  gentleman  sat  in  his  shirt  sleeves  at 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  15 

the  table  reading  the  account  of  the  marshalling  of  the  Highlanders 
at  Edinburgh  in  the  Abbottsford  edition  of  Sir  Walter  Scott;  another, 
who  had  been  wearied,  apparently,  by  writing  numerous  applications 
to  the  government  for  some  military  post,  of  which  rough  copies  lay 
scattered  around,  came  in,  after  refreshing  himself  at  the  bar,  and  oc- 
cupied one  of  the  beds,  which  by  the  bye,  were  ominously  provided 
with  two  pillows  apiece.  Supper  there  was  none  for  us  in  the  house, 
but  a  search  in  an  outlying  street  enabled  us  to  discover  a  restaurant, 
where  roasted  squirrels  and  baked  opossums  figured  as  luxuries  in  the 
bill  of  fare.  On  our  return  we  found  that  due  preparation  had  been 
made  in  the  apartment  by  the  addition  of  three  mattresses  on  the  floor. 
The  beds  were  occupied  by  unknown  statesmen  and  warriors,  and  we 
all  slumbered  and  snored  in  friendly  concert  till  morning.  Gentlemen 
in  the  South  complain  that  strangers  judge  of  them  by  their  hotels,  but 
it  is  a  very  natural  standard  for  strangers  to  adopt,  and  in  respect  to 
Montgomery  it  is  almost  the  only  one  that  a  gentleman  can  conveniently 
use,  for  if  the  inhabitants  of  this  city  and  its  vicinity  are  not  maligned, 
there  is  an  absence  of  the  hospitable  spirit  which  the  South  lays  claim 
to  as  one  of  its  animating  principles,  and  a  little  bird  whispered  to  me 
that  from  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  down  to  the  least  distinguished  member 
of  his  government  there  was  reason  to  observe  that  the  usual  attentions 
and  civilities  offered  by  residents  to  illustrious  stragglers  had  been 
"  conspicuous  for  their  absence."  The  fact  is,  that  the  small  planters 
who  constitute  the  majority  of  the  land-owners  are  not  in  a  position  to 
act  the  Amphytrion,  and  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  can  scarce- 
ly aspire  to  be  considered  what  we  would  call  gentry  in  England,  but 
are  a  frugal,  simple,  hog-and-hominy  living  people,  fond  of  hard  work 
and,  occasionally,  of  hard  drinking. 


New  Orleans,  Ifay  24,  1861. 
It  is  impossible  to  resist  the  conviction  that  the  Southern  Confeder- 
acy can  only  be  conquered  by  means  as  irresistible  as  those  by  which 
Poland  was  subjugated.  The  South  will  fall,  if  at  all,  as  a  nation  pros- 
trate at  the  feet  of  a  victorious  enemy.  There  is  no  doubt  of  the  una- 
nimity of  the  people.  If  words  mean  anything,  they  are  animated  by 
only  one  sentiment,  and  they  will  resist  the  North  as  long  as  they  can 
command  a  man  or  a  dollar.  There  is  nothing  of  a  sectional  character 
in  this  disposition  of  the  South.  In  every  state  there  is  only  one  voice 
audible.  Hereafter,  indeed,  state  jealousies  may  work  their  own  way. 
Whatever  may  be  the  result,  unless  the  men  are  the  merest  braggarts 


16  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

— and  they  do  not  look  like  it — they  will  fight  to  the  last  before  they 
give  in,  and  their  confidence  in  their  resources  is  only  equalled  by 
their  determination  to  test  them  to  the  utmost.  There  is  a  noisy  vo- 
ciferation about  their  declarations  of  implicit  trust  and  reliance  on  their 
slaves  which  makes  one  think  "  they  do  protest  too  much,"  and  it  re- 
mains to  be  seen  whether  the  slaves  really  will  remain  faithful  to  their 
masters  should  the  abolition  army  ever  come  among  them  as  an  armed 
propaganda.  One  thing  is  obvious  here.  A  large  number  of  men  who 
might  be  usefully  employed  in  the  ranks  are  idling  about  the  streets. 
The  military  enthusiasm  is  in  proportion  to  the  property  interest  of  the 
various  classes  of  the  people,  and  the  very  boast  that  so  many  rich  men 
are  serving  in  the  ranks  is  a  significant  proof,  either  of  the  want  of  a 
substratum,  or  of  the  absence  of  great  devotion  to  the  cause,  of  any 
such  layer  of  white  people  as  may  underlie  the  great  slave-holding,  mer- 
cantile, and  planting  oligarchy.  The  whole  state  of  Louisiana  contains 
about  50,000  men  liable  to  serve  when  called  on.  Of  that  number  only 
15,000  are  enrolled  and  under  arms  in  any  shape  whatever,  and  if  one 
is  to  judge  of  the  state  of  affairs  by  the  advertisements  which  appear 
from  the  adjutant-general's  office,  there  was  some  difficulty  in  procur- 
ing the  3,0u0  men — m.erely  3,000  volunteers -"  to  serve  during  the 
war,"  who  are  required  by  the  Confederate  government.  There  is 
"plenty  of  prave  'ords,"  and  if  fierce  writing  and  talking  could  do  the 
work,  the  armies  on  both  sides  would  have  been  killed  and  eaten  long 
ago.  It  is  found  out  that  ''lives  of  the  citizens"  at  Pensacola  are  too 
valuable  to  be  destioyed  in  attacking  Pickens.  A  storm  that  shall 
drive  away  the  ships,  a  plague,  yellow  fever,  mosquitos,  rattlesnakes, 
small-pox — any  of  these  agencies,  is  looked  to  with  confidence  to  do 
the  work  of  shot,  shell,  and  bayonet.  Our  American  "  brethren  in 
arms"  have  yet  to  learn  that  great  law  in  military  cookery,  that  "if 
they  want  to  make  omelets  they  must  break  eggs."  The  "  moral 
suasion"  of  the  lasso,  of  head-shaving,  ducking,  kicking,  and  such  pro- 
cesses, are,  I  suspect,  used  not  unfrequently  to  stimulate  volunteers ; 
and  the  extent  to  which  the  acts  of  the  recruiting  officer  are  somewhat 
aided  by  the  arm  of  the  law,  and  the  force  of  the  policeman  and  the 
magistrate,  may  be  seen  from  paragraphs  in  the  morning  papers  now 
and  then,  to  the  effect  that  certain  gentlemen  of  Milesian  extraction, 
who  might  have  been  engaged  in  pugilistic  pursuits,  were  discharged 
from  custody  unpunished  on  condition  that  they  enlisted  for  the  war. 
With  the  peculiar  views  entertained  of  freedom  of  opinion  and  action 
by  large  classes  of  people  on  this  continent,  such  a  mode  of  obtaining 
volunteers  is  very  natural,  but  resort  to  it  evinces  a  want  of  zeal  on  the 


PICTURES     OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  ^7 

part  of  some  of  the  50,000  who  are  on  the  rolls;  and,  from  all  I  can 
hear — and  I  have  asked  numerous  persons  likely  to  be  acquainted  with 
the  subject — there  are  not  more  than  those  15,000  men  of  whom  I 
have  spoken  in  all  the  state  under  arms,  or  in  training,  of  whom  a  con- 
siderable proportion  will  be  needed  for  garrison  and  coast  defence  du- 
ties. It  may  be  that  the  Northern  states  and  Northern  sentiments  are 
as  violent  as  those  of  the  South  but  I  see  some  evidences  to  the  con- 
trary. For  instance,  in  New  York  ladies  and  gentlemen  from  the  South 
are  permitted  to  live  at  their  favorite  hotel  without  molestation,  and 
one  hotel  keeper  at  Saratoga  Springs  advertises  openly  for  the  custom 
of  his  Southern  patrons.  In  no  city  of  the  South  which  I  have  visited 
would  a  party  of  Northern  people  be  permitted  to  remain  for  an  hour 
if  the  "  citizens"  were  aware  of  their  presence.  It  is  laughable  to  hear 
men  speaking  of  the  "  unanimity"  of  the  South.  Just  look  at  the  pe- 
culiar means  by  which  unanimity  is  enforced  and  secured  !  This  is 
an  extract  from  a  New  Orleans  paper  : 

Charges  op  Abolitionism. — Mayor  Monroe  has  disposed  of  some  of  the  cases 
brought  before  him  on  charges  of  this  kind  by  sending  the  accused  to  the  work- 
house. 

A  Mexican  named  Bernard  Cruz,  born  in  Tampico,  and  Uving  here  with  an  Irish 
wife,  was  brought  before  the  Mayor  this  morning  charged  with  uttering  Abohtion 
sentiments.  After  a  full  investigation,  it  was  found  from  the  utterance  of  his  in- 
cendiary language,  that  Cruz's  education  was  not  yet  perfect  in  Southern  classics, 
and  his  Honor  therefore  directed  that  he  be  sent  for  six  months  to  the  Humane  In- 
stitution for  the  Amelioration  of  the  Condition  of  Northern  Barbarians  and  Aboli- 
tion Fanatics,  presided  over  by  Professor  Henry  Mitchell,  koeper  of  the  workhouse, 
who  will  put  him  through  a  course  of  study  on  Southern  ethics  and  institutions. 

The  testiniony  before  him  Saturday,  however,  in  the  case  of  a  mah  named  David 
O'Keefe,  was  such  as  to  induce  him  to  commit  the  accused  for  trial  before  the 
Criminal  Court.  One  of  the  witnesses  testified  positively  that  he  heard  him  make 
his  children  shout  for  Lincoln ;  another,  that  the  accused  said,  "  I  am  an  abolition- 
ist," &c.  The  witnesses,  the  neighbors  of  the  accused,  gave  their  evidence  reluct- 
antly, saying  that  they  had  warned  him  of  the  folly  and  danger  of  his  conduct. 
O'Keefe  says  he  has  been  a  United  States  soldier,  and  came  here  from  St.  Louis  and 
Kansas. 

John  White  was  arraigned  before  Recorder  Emerson  on  Saturday  for  uttering  in- 
cendiary language  while  traveling  in  the  baggage  car  of  a  train  of  the  Xew  Orleans, 
Ohio,  and  Great  Western  Railroad,  intimating  that  the  decapitator  of  Jefferson 
Davis  would  get  $10,000  for  his  trouble,  and  the  last  man  of  us  would  be  whipped 
like  dogs  by  the  Lincolnites.  H-s  v,^as  held  under  bonds  of  $500  to  answer  the 
charge  on  the  8th  of  June. 

Nicholas  Gento,  charged  with  declaring  himself  an  Abolitionist,  and  acting  very 
much  like  he  was  one,  by  harboring  a  runaway  slave,  was  sent  to  prison  in  default 
of  bail,  to  await  examination  before  the  recorder. 


78  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERX    LIFE. 

Such  is  "freedom  of  speech"  in  Louisiana!  But  in  Texas  the  ma- 
chinery for  the  production  of  "  unanimity"  is  less  complicated,  and 
there  are  no  insulting  legal  formalities  connected  with  the  working  of 
the  simple  appliances  which  a  primitive  agricultural  people  have  devised 
for  their  own  purposes.  Hear  the  Texan  correspondent  of  one  of  the 
journals  of  this  city  on  the  subject.     He  says  : 

It  is  to  us  astonishing,  that  such  unmitigated  hes  as  those  Northern  papers  dis- 
seminate of  anarchy  and  disorder  here  in  Texas,  dissension  among  ourselves,  and 
especially  from  our  German,  &c.,  population,  with  dangers  and  anxieties  from  the 
fear  of  insurrection  among  the  negroes,  &c.,  should  be  deemed  anywhere  South 
worthy  of  a  moment's  thought.  It  is  surely  notorious  enough  that  in  no  part  of 
the  South  are  Abolitionists,  or  other  disturbers  of  the  public  peace,  so  very  unsafe 
as  in  Texas.     The  lasso  is  so  very  convenient ! 

Here  is  an  excellent  method  of  preventing  dissension  described  by  a 
stroke  of  the  pen ;  and,  as  such,  an  ingenious  people  are  not  likely  to 
lose  sight  of  the  uses  of  a  revolution  in  developing  peculiar  principles 
to  their  own  advantage,  repudiation  of  debts  to  the  North  has  been 
proclaimed  and  acted  on.  One  gentleman  has  found  it  convenient  to 
inform  Major  Anderson  that  he  does  not  intend  to  meet  certain  bills 
which  he  had  given  the  major  for  some  slaves,  Aiiother  declares  he 
won't  pay  any  one  at  all,  as  he  has  discovered  it  is  immoral  and  con- 
trary to  the  law  of  nations  to  do  so.  A  third  feels  himself  bound  to 
obey  the  commands  of  the  governor  of  his  state,  who  has  ordered  that 
debts  due  to  the  North  shall  not  be  liquidated.  As  a  nai»e  specimen 
of  the  way  in  which  the  whole  case  is  treated,  take  this  article  and  the 
correspondence  of  "  one  of  the  most  prominent  mercantile  houses  in 
New  Orleans :" 

SOUTHERN   DEBTS   TO   THE    NORTH. 

The  Cincinnati  Gazette  copies  the  following  paragraph  from  The  Kew  York  Even- 
ing Post: 

"  Bad  Faith. — The  bad  faith  of  the  Southern  merchants  in  their  transactions  with 
their  Northern  correspondents  is  becoming  more  evident  daily.  We  have  heard  of 
several  recent  cases  where  parties  in  this  city,  retired  from  active  business,  have, 
nevertheless,  stepped  forward  to  protect  the  credit  of  their  Southern  friends.  They 
are  now  coolly  informed  that  they  cannot  be  reimbursed  for  these  advances  until 
the  war  is  over.  We  know  of  a  retired  merchant  who  in  this  way  has  lost  $100,000" 
— and  adds : 

"  The  same  here.  Men  who  have  done  most  for  the  South  are  the  chief  sufferers. 
Debts  are  coolly  repudiated  by  Southern  merchants,  who  have  heretofore  enjoyed 
a  first-class  reputation.  Men  who  have  grown  rich  upon  the  trade  furnished  by 
the  West  are  among  the  first  to  pocket  the  money  of  their  correspondents,  asking, 
with  all  the  impudence  and  assurance  of  a  highwayman,  "What  are  you  going  to 
do  about  it?"  There  is  honor  among  thieves,  it  is  said,  but  there  is  not  a  spark  of 
honor  among  these  repudiating  merchants.     People  who  have  aided  and  trusted 


PICTTJEES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  79 

them  to  the  last  moment,  are  the  greatest  losers.  There  is  a  future,  however.  This 
war  wUl  be  over,  and  the  Southern  merchants  will  desire  a  resumption  of  their 
connections  with  the  West.  As  the  repudiators — such  as  Goodrich  &  Co.,  of  Xew 
Orleans — will  be  spurned,  there  will  be  a  grand  opening  for  honest  men. 

"  There  are  many  honorable  exceptions  in  the  South,  but  dishonesty  is  the  rule. 
The  latter  is  but  the  development  of  latent  rascahty.  The  rebeUion  has  afforded  a 
pretext  merely  for  the  smndling  operations.  The  parties  previously  acted  honestly^ 
only  because  that  was  the  best  poUcy.  The  sifting  process  that  may  now  be  con- 
ducted will  be  of  advantage  to  Northern  merchants  in  the  future.  The  present 
losses  will  be  fully  made  up  by  subsequent  gains." 

We  have  been  requested  to  copy  the  following  reply  to  this  tirade  from  one  of 
our  most  prominent  mercantile  houses,  Messrs.  Goodrich  &  Co. : 

New  Orleans,  May  24,  1861. 

Cincinnati  Gazette. — We  were  handed,  through  a  friend  of  ours,  your  isgue  of 
the  18th  inst.,  and  attention  directed  to  an  article  contained  therein,  in  which  you 
are  pleased  to  particularize  us  out  of  a  large  number  of  highly  respectable  mer- 
chants of  this  and  other  Southern  cities  as  repudiators,  swindlers,  and  other  epi- 
thets, better  suited  to  the  mouths  of  the  Wilson  regiment  of  New  York  than  from 
a  once  respectable  sheet,  but  which  now  has  sunk  so  low  in  the  depths  of  nig- 
gerdom  that  it  would  take  all  the  soap  in  Porkopolis  and  the  Ohio  River  to  cleanse 
it  from  its  foul  pollution. 

We  are  greatly  indebted  to  you  for  using  our  name  in  the  above  article,  as  we 
deem  i:  the  best  card  you  could  pubhsh  for  us,  and  may  add  greatly  to  our  business 
relations  in  the  Confederate  States,  which  will  enable  us  in  the  end  to  pay  our  in- 
debtedness to  those  who  propose  cutting  our  throat?,  destroying  our  property, 
steahng  our  negroes,  and  starving  our  wives  and  children,  to  pay  such  men  in 
times  of  war.     You  may  term  it  rascally,  but  we  beg  leave  to  call  it  patriotism. 

"Giving  the  sinews  of  war  to  your  enemies  has  ever  been  considered  treason." — 
Kent. 

Now  for  "repudiating."  We  have  never,  nor  do  we  ever  expect  to  repudiate 
any  debt  owing  by  our  firm.  But  this  much  we  wQl  say,  never  wiU  we  pay  a  debt 
due  by  us  to  a  man,  or  any  company  of  men,  who  is  a  kno^vm  Black  Repubhcan, 
and  marching  in  battle  array  to  invade  our  homes  and  firesides,  until  every  such 
person  shall  be  driven  back  and  their  polluted  footsteps  shall,  now  on  our  once 
happy  soil,  be  entirely  obliterated. 

We  have  been  in  business  in  this  city  for  twenty  years,  have  passed  through 
every  crisis  with  our  names  untarnished  or  credit  impaired,  and  would  at  present 
sacrifice  all  we  have  made,  were  it  necessary,  to  sustain  our  credit  in  the  Confeder- 
acy, but  care  nothing  for  the  opinions  of  such  as  are  open  and  avowed  enemies. 
We  are  sufficiently  known  in  this  city  not  to  require  the  indorsement  of  The  Ciw 
cinnati  Gazette,  or  any  such  sheet,  for  a  character. 

The  day  is  coming,  and  not  far  distant,  when  there  wfil  be  an  awful  reckoning, 
and  we  are  willing  and  determined  to  stand  by  our  Confederate  flag,  sink  or  swim, 
and  would  like  to  meet  some  of  Tlie  Gazette's  editors  vis-a-vis  on  the  field  of  blood, 
and  see  who  would  be  the  first  to  flinch. 

Our  senior  partner  has  already  contributed  one  darkey  this  year  to  your  popula- 
tion, and  she  is  anxious  to  return,  but  we  have  a  few  more  left  which  you  can- 
have,  provided  you  will  come  and  take  them  yourselves. 


80  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

Vv"e  have  said  more  than  we  intended,  and  hope  you  will  give  this  a  place  in  your 
paper.  GOODRICH  &  CO. 

There  is  some  little  soreness  felt  here  about  the  use  of  the  word 
"  repudiation,"  and  it  will  do  the  hearts  of  some  people  good,  and  will 
carry  comfort  to  the  ghost  of  the  Rev.  Sydney  Smith,  if  it  can  hear  the 
tidings,  to  know  I  have  been  assured,  over  and  over  again,  by  eminent 
mercantile  people  and  statesmen,  that  there  is  a  "  general  desire"  on 
the  part  of  the  repudiating  states  to  pay  their  bonds,  and  that  no 
doubt,  at  some  future  period,  not  very  clearly  ascertainable  or  plainly 
indicated,  that  general  desire  will  cause  some  active  steps  to  be  taken 
to  satisfy  its  intensity,  of  a  character  very  unexpected,  and  very  gratify- 
ing to  those  interested.  The  tariff  of  the  Southern  Confederation  has 
just  been  promulgated,  and  I  send  herewith  a  copy  of  the  rates. 
Simultaneously,  however,  with  this  document,  the  United  States  steam- 
ffigates  Brooklyn  and  Niagara  have  made  their  appearance  off  the  Pass 
a  r Outre,  and  the  jMississippi  is  closed,  and  with  it  the  port  of  New 
Orleans.  The  steam-tugs  refuse  to  tow  out  vessels  for  fear  of  capture, 
and  British  ships  are  in  jeopardy. 

May  25. — A  visit  to  the  camp  at  Tangipao,  about  fifty  miles  from 
New  Orleans,  gave  an  occasion  for  obtaining  a  clearer  view  of  the  in- 
ternal military  condition  of  those  forces  of  which  one  reads  much  and 
sees  so  little  than  any  other  way.  Major-General  Lewis  of  the  State 
Militia,  and  staff,  and  General  Labuzan,  a  Creole  officer,  attended  by 
Major  Ranney,  President  of  the  New  Orleans,  Jackson,  and  Great 
Northern  Railway,  and  by  many  officers  in  uniform,  started  with  that 
purpose  at  half-past  four  this  evening  in  a  railway  carriage,  carefully 
and  comfortably  fitted  for  their  reception.  The  militia  of  Louisiana 
has  not  been  called  out  for  many  years,  and  its  officers  have  no  mili- 
tary experience  and  the  men  have  no  drill  or  discipline. 

Emerging  from  the  swampy  suburbs,  we  soon  pass  between  white 
clover  pastures,  which  we  are  told  invariably  salivate  the  herds  of  small 
but  plump  cattle  browsing  upon  them.  Soon  cornfields  "  in  tassel," 
alternate  with  long  narrow  rows  of  growing  sugar-cane,  which,  though 
scarcely  a  fourth  of  the  height  of  the  maize,  will  soon  overshadov/  it ; 
and  the  cane-stalks  grow  up  so  densely  together  that  nothing  larger 
than  a  rattlesnake  can  pass  between  them. 

From  Kennersville,  an  ancient  sugar  plantation  cut  up  into  "  town 
lots,"  our  first  halt,  ten  miles  out,  we  shoot  through  a  cypress  swamp, 
the  primitive  forest  of  this  region,  and  note  a  greater  affluence  of 
Spanish  moss  than  in  the  woods  of  Georgia  or  Carolina.  There  it 
hung,  like  a  hermit's   beard,  from  the  pensile  branch.     Here,  to  one 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  81 

who  should  venture  to  thread  the  snake  aud  alligator  haunted  mazes 
of  the  jungle,  its  matted  profusion  must  resemble  clusters  of  stalactites 
pendent  from  the  roof  of  some  vast  cavern ;  for  the  gloom  of  an  endless 
night  appears  to  pervade  the  deeper  recesses,  at  the  entrance  of  which 
stand,  like  outlying  skeleton  pickets,  the  unfelled  and  leafless  patriarchs 
of  the  clearing,  that  for  a  breadth  of  perhaps  fifty  yards  on  either  side 
seems  to  have  furnished  the  road  with  its  sleepers. 

The  gray  swamp  yields  to  an  open  savanna,  beyond  which,  upon 
the  left,  a  straggling  line  of  sparse  trees  skirts  the  left  bank  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  soon  after  the  broad  expanse  of  Lake  Pontchartrain 
appears  within  gunshot  of  our  right,  only  separated  from  the  road  by  a 
hundred  yards  or  more  of  rush-covered  prairie,  which  seems  but  a  feeble 
barrier  against  the  caprices  of  so  extensive  a  sheet  of  water,  subject  to 
the  influences  of  wind  and  tide.  In  fact,  ruined  shanties  and  out-houses, 
fields  laid  waste,  and  prostrate  fences,  remain  evidences  of  the  ravages  of 
the  "  wash"  which  a  year  ago  inundated  and  rendered  the  railroad  im- 
passable save  for  boats.  The  down  train's  first  notice  of  the  disaster 
was  the  presence  of  a  two-story  frame  building,  which  the  waves  had 
transported  to  the  road,  and  its 'passengers,  detained  a  couple  of  days 
in  what  now  strikes  us  as  a  most  grateful  combination  of  timber- 
skirted  meadow  and  lake  scenery,  were  rendered  insensible  to  its 
beauties  by  the  torments  of  hungry  mosquitos.  Had  its  engineers 
given  the  road  but  eighteen  inches  more  elevation  its  patrons  would 
have  been  spared  this  suff'ering,  and  its  stockholders  might  have  re- 
joiced in  a  dividend.  Many  of  the  settlers  have  abandoned  their  im- 
provements. Others,  chiefly  what  are  here  called  Dutchmen,  have 
resumed  their  tillage  with  unabated  zeal,  and  large  fields  of  cabbages, 
one  of  them  embracing  not  less  than  sixty  acres,  testify  to  their  energy. 

Again,  through  miles  of  cypress  swamps  the  train  passes  on  to  what 
is  called  the  "  trembliiig  prairie,"  where  the  sleepers  are  laid  upon  a 
tressel-work  of  heavier  logs,  so  that  the  rails  are  raised  by  "  cribs"  of 
timber  nearly  a  yard  above  the  morass.  Three  species  of  rail,  one  of 
them  as  large  as  a  curlew,  and  the  summer-duck,  seem  the  chief  occu- 
pants of  the  marsh,  but  white  cranes  and  brown  bitterns  take  the 
alarm,  and  falcons  and  long-tailed  "  blackbirds  "  sail  in  the  distance. 

Toward  sunset  a  halt  took  place  upon  the  long  bridge  that  divides 
Lake  Maurepas,  a  picturesque  sheet  of  water  which  blends  with  the 
horizon  on  our  left,  from  Pass  Manchac,  an  arm  of  Lake  Pontchartrain, 
which  disappears  in  the  forest  on  our  right.  Half-a-dozen  wherries 
and  a  small  fishing-smack  are  moored  in  front  of  a  licketty  cabin, 
crowded  by  the  jungle  to  the  margin  of  the  cove.  It  is  the  first  token 
4* 


82  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

of  a  settlement  that  has  occiirre^  for  miles,  and  when  we  have  suffi- 
ciently admired  the  scene,  rendered  picturesque  in  the  sunset  by  the 
dense  copse,  the  water  and  the  bright  colors  of  the  boats  at  rest  upon 
it,  a  commotion  at  the  head  of  the  train  arises  from  the  unexpected 
arrival  upon  the  "  switch"  of  a  long  string  of  cars  filled  with  half  a 
rejriment  of  volunteers,  who  had  been  enlisted  for  twelve  months'  ser- 
vice, and  now  refused  to  be  mustered  in  for  the  war,  as  required  by  the 
recent  enactment  of  the  Montgomery  Congress.  The  new-comers  are 
at  length  safely  lodged  on  the  "  turn-off,"  and  our  train  continues  its 
journey.  As  we  pass  the  row  of  cars,  most  of  them  freight  wagons,  we 
are  hailed  with  shouts  and  yells  in  every  key  by  the  disbanded  volun- 
teers, who  seem  a  youngish,  poorly-clad,  and  undersized  lot,  though 
noisy  as  a  street  mob. 

After  Manchac,  the  road  begins  to  creep  up  toward  terra  firma,  and 
before  nightfall  there  was  a  change  from  cypresses  and  swamp  laurels 
to  pines  and  beeches,  and  we  inhale  the  purer  atmosphere  of  dry  land, 
with  an  occasional  whiff  of  resinous  fragrance,  that  dispels  the  fever- 
tainted  sno-o-estions  of  the  swamp  below.  There  we  only  breathed  to 
live.  Here  we  seem  to  live  to  breathe.  The  rise  of  the  road  is  a 
grade  of  but  a  foot  to  the  mile,  and  yet  at  the  camp  an  elevation  of 
not  more  than  eighty  feet  in  as  many  miles  suffices  to  establish  all  the 
climatic  difference  between  the  malarious  marshes  and  a  much  higher 
mountain  region. 

But  during  our  journey  the  hampers  have  not  been  neglected.  The 
younger  members  of  the  party  astonish  the  night-owls  with  patriotic 
songs,  chiefly  French,  and  the  French  chiefly  with  the  "  Marseillaise," 
which,  however  inappropriate  as  the  slogan  of  the  Confederate  states, 
they  persist  in  quavering,  forgetful,  perhaps,  that  not  three-quarters  of 
a  century  ago  Toussaint  TOuverture  caught  the  words  and  air  of  his 
masters,  and  awoke  the  lugubrious  notes  of  the  insurrection. 

Toward  nine  p.  m.,  the  special  car  rests  in  the  woods,  and  is  flanked 
on  one  side  by  the  tents  and  watch-fires  of  a  small  encampment,  chiefly 
of  navvy  and  cotton-handling  Milesian  volunteers,  called  "  the  Tigers," 
from  their  prehensile  powers  and  predatory  habits.  A  guard  is  sta- 
tioned around  the  car;  a  couple  of  Ethiopians  who  !-ave  attended  us 
from  town  are  left  to  answer  the  query,  quis  custodlet  ipsos  custodes  ? 
and  we  make  our  way  to  the  hotel,  which  looms  up  in  ths  moonlight 
in  a  two-storied  dignity.  Here,  alas  !  there  have  been  no  preparations 
made  to  sleep  or  feed  us.  The  scapegoat  "nobody"  announced  our 
coming.  Some  of  the  guests  are  club  men,  used  to  the  small  hours, 
who  engage  a  room,  a  table,  half  a  dozen  chairs,  and  a  brace  of  bottles 


PICTURES     OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  83 

to  serve  as  candlesticks.  They  have  brought  stearine  and  pasteboards 
with  them,  and  are  soon  deep  in  the  finesses  of  '^  Euchre."  We  quiet Iv 
stroll  back  to  the  car,  our  only  hope  of  shelter.  At  the  entrance  we 
are  challenged  by  a  sentry,  apparently  ignorant  that  he  has  a  percussion 
cap  on  his  brown  rifle,  which  he  levels  at  us  cocked.  From  this  un- 
pleasant vision  of  an  armed  and  reckless  Tiger  rampant  we  are  relieved 
by  one  of  the  dusky  squires,  who  assures  the  sentinel  that  we  are  "all 
right,"  and  proceeds  to  turn  over  a  seat  and  arrange  wbat  might  be 
called  a  sedan-chair  bed,  in  which  we  prepare  to  make  a  night  of  it. 
Our  party  is  soon  joined  by  others  in  quest  of  repose,  and  in  half  an 
hour  breathings,  some  of  them  so  deep  as  to  seem  subterranean,  indi- 
cate that  all  have  attained  their  object — like  Manfred's — forgetfulness. 

An  early  breakfast  of  rashers  and  eggs  was  prepared  at  the  table 
dlwte,  which  we  were  told  would  be  replenished  half-hourly  until  noon, 
when  a  respite  of  an  hour  was  allowed  to  the  "  help,"  in  which  to  make 
ready  a  dinner,  to  be  served  in  the  same  progression. 

Through  a  shady  dingle  a  winding  path  led  to  the  camp,  and,  after 
trudging  a  pleasant  half-mile,  a  bridge  of  boards,  resting  on  a  coupla 
of  trees  laid  across  a  pool,  was  passed,  and,  above  a  slight  embankment, 
tents  and  soldiers  are  reveded  upon  a  "  clearing  "  of  some  thirty  acres 
in  the  midst  of  a  pine  forest.  Turning  to  the  left,  we  reach  a  double 
row  of  tents,  only  distinguished  from  the  rest  by  their  "fly  roofs"  and 
boarded  floors,  and,  in  the  centre,  halt  opposite  to  one  which  a  poster 
of  capitals  on  a  planed  deal  marks  as  "  Head-quarters."  Major-General 
Tracy  commands  the  camp.  The  white  tents  crouching  close  to  the 
shade  of  the  pines,  the  parade  alive  with  groups  and  colors  as  various 
as  those  of  Joseph's  coat,  arms  stacked  here  and  there,  and  occasionally 
the  march  of  a  double  file  in  green,  or  in  mazarine  blue,  up  an  alley 
from  the  interior  of  the  wood,  to  be  dismissed  in  the  open,  resembles 
a  militia  muster,  or  a  holiday  experiment  at  soldiering,  rather  than  the 
dark  shadow  of  forthcoming  battle.  The  cordon  of  sentinels  sufi"er  no 
volunteer  to  leave  the  precincts  of  the  camp,  even  to  bathe,  without  ? 
pass  or  the  word.  There  are  neither  wagons  nor  ambulances,  and  the 
men  are  rollinor  in  barrels  of  bacon  and  bread  and  shoulderino-  bacrs 
of  pulse — good  picnic  practice  and  campaigning  gymnastics  in  fair 
weather. 

The  arms  of  these  volunteers  are  the  old  United  States  smooth-bore 
musket,  altered  from  flint  to  percussion,  with  bayonet — a  heavy  and 
obsolete  copy  of  Brown  Bess. in  bright  barrels.  All  are  in  creditable 
order.  Most  of  them  have  never  been  used,  even  to  fire  a  parade 
volley,  for  powder  is  scarce  in  the  Confederated  States,  and  must  not 


84  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

be  wasted.  Except  in  their  material,  the  shoes  of  the  troops  are  as 
varied  as  their  clothing.  None  have  as  yet  been  served  out,  and  each 
still  wears  the  boots,  the  brogans,  the  patent  leathers,  or  the  Oxford 
ties  in  which  he  enlisted.  The  tents  have  mostly  no  other  floor  than 
the  earth,  and  that  rarely  swept ;  while  blankets,  boxes,  and  utensils 
are  stowed  in  corners  with  a  disregard  of  symmetry  that  would  drive 
;i  martinet  mad.  Camp-stools  are  rare  and  tables  invisible,  save  here 
and  there  in  an  officer's  tent.  Still  the  men  look  well,  and,  we  are 
told,  would  doubtless  present  a  more  cheerful  appearance,  but  for  some 
little  demoralization  occasioned  by  discontent  at  the  repeated  changes 
in  the  organic  structure  of  the  regiments,  arising  from  misapprehensions 
between  the  state  and  federal  authorities,  as  well  as  from  some  favo- 
ritism toward  certain  officers,  elected  by  political  wire-pulling  in  the 
governing  councils.  The  system  of  electing  officers  by  ballot  has  made 
the  camp  as  thoroughly  a  political  arena  as  the  poll-districts  in  New 
Orleans  before  an  election,  and  thus  many  heroes,  seemingly  ambitious 
of  epaulettes,  are  in  reality  only  "  laying  pipes"  for  the  attainment  of 
civil  power  or  distinction  after  the  war. 

The  volunteers  we  met  at  Manchac  the  previous  evening  had  been 
enlisted  by  the  state  to  serve  for  twelve  months,  and  had  refused  to 
extend  their  engagement  for  the  war — a  condition  now  made  precedent 
at  Montgomery  to  their  being  mustered  into  the  army  of  the  Confed- 
erate States.  Another  company,  a  majority  of  whom  persist  in  the 
same  refusal,  were  disbanded  while  we  were  patrolling  the  camp,  and 
an  officer  told  one  of  the  party  he  had  suffered  a  loss  of  600  volunteers 
by  this  disintegrating  process  within  the  last  twenty-four  hours.  Some 
of  these  country  companies  were  skilled  in  the  use  of  the  rifle,  and 
most  of  them  had  made  pecuniary  sacrifices  in  the  way  of  time,  jour- 
neys, and  equipments.  Our  informant  deplored  this  reduction  of  vob 
unteers,  as  tending  to  engender  disaffection  in  the  parishes  to  which 
they  will  return,  and  comfort,  when  known,  to  the  Abolitionists  of  the 
North.  He  added  that  the  w^ar  will  not  perhaps  last  a  twelvemonth, 
and  if  unhappily  prolonged  beyond  that  period,  the  probabilities  are  in 
favor  of  the  short-term  recruits  willingly  consenting  to  a  re-enlistment. 

The  encampment  of  the  "  Perrit  Guards"  was  worthy  of  a  visit, 
Here  was  a  company  oi i:>rofe8slonal  gamblers^  112  strong,  recruited  foi 
the  war  in  a  moment  of  banter  by  one  of  the  patriarchs  of  the  frater- 
nity, who,  upon  hearing  at  the  St.  Charles  Hotel  one  evening  that  the 
vanity  or  the  patriotism  of  a  citizen,  not  famed  for  liberality,  had  en- 
dowed with  |1,000  a  company  wdiich  was  to  bear  his  name,  exclaimed 
that  "he  would  give  $1,500  to  any  one  who  should  be  fool  enough  to 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  85 

foiTn  a  company  and  call  it  after  him."  In  less  than  an  hour  after  the 
utterance  of  this  caprice,  Mr.  Perrit  was  waited  upon  by  fifty-six  "  pro- 
fessionals," who  had  enrolled  their  names  as  the  ''Perrit  Guards,"  and 
unhesitatingly  produced  from  his  wallet  the  sum  so  sportively  pledged. 
The  Guards  are  uniformed  in  mazarine-blue  flannel  with  red  facings, 
and  the  captain,  a  youngish-looking  fellow,  with  a  hawk's  eye,  who  had 
seen  service  with  Scott  in  Mexico  and  Walker  in  Xicaragua,  informed 
us  that  there  is  not  a  pair  of  shoes  in  the  company  that  cost  less  than 
$6,  and  that  no  money  has  been  spared  to  perfect  their  other  appoint- 
ments. A  sack  of  icG  and  half  a  dozen  silver  goblets  enforced  his 
invitation  "  to  take  a  drink  at  his  quarters,"  and  we  were  served  by  an 
African  in  uniform,  who  afterward  offered  us  cigars  received  by  the  last 
Havana  steamer.  Looking  at  the  sable  attendant,  one  of  the  party  ob- 
served that  if  these  "  experts  of  fortune  win  the  present  fight,  it  will  be 
a  case  of  couleur  gagne^ 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  the  same  number  of  men  taken  at 
hazard  greater  diversities  of  age,  stature,  and  physiognomy  ;  but  in 
keenness  of  eye  and  imperturbability  of  demeanor  they  exhibit  a  family 
likeness,  and  there  is  not  an  unintelligent  face  in  the  company.  The 
gamblers,  or,  as  they  are  termed,  the  "  sports,"  of  the  United  States 
have  an  air  of  higher  breeding  and  education  than  the  dice-throwers 
and  card-turners  of  Ascot  or  Newmarket — nay,  they  may  be  considered 
the  Anglo-Saxon  equals,  minus  the  title,  of  those  ames  damnees  of  the 
continental  nobility  who  are  styled  Greeks  by  their  Parisian  victims. 
They  are  the  Pariahs  of  American  civilization,  who  are,  nevertheless, 
in  daily  and  familiar  intercourse  with  their  patrons,  and  not  restricted, 
as  in  England,  to  a  betting-ring  toleration  by  the  higher  orders.  The 
Guards  are  the  model  company  of  Camp  Moore,  and  I  should  have  felt 
disposed  to  admire  the  spirit  of  gallantry  with  which  they  have  volun- 
teered in  this  war  as  a  purification  by  fire  of  their  maculated  lives  were 
it  not  hinted  that  the  "  Oglethorpe  Guards"  and  more  than  one  other 
company  of  volunteers  are  youths  of  large  private  fortunes,  and  that  in 
the  Secession  as  in  the  Mexican  War,  these  patriots  will  doubtless 
pursue  their  old  calling  with  as  much  profit  as  they  may  their  new  one 
with  valor. 

From  the  lower  camp  we  wind  through  tents,  which  diminish  in 
neatness  and  cleanliness  as  we  advance  deeper,  to  the  upper  division, 
which  is  styled  "  Camp  Tracy,"  a  newer  formation,  whose  brooms  have 
been  employed  Avith  corresponding  success.  The  adjutant's  report  for 
the  day  sums  up  1,073  rank  and  file,  and  but  two  on  the  sick  list.  On 
a  platform,  a  desk,  beneath  the   shade  of  the  grove,  holds  a  Bible  and 


86  PICTURES   OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

Prayer-book,  that  await  the  arrival,  at  ten  o'clock,  of  the  Methodist 
preacher,  who  is  to  perforin  Divine  service.  The  green  uniforms  of  the 
"  Hibernian  Guards,"  and  the  gray  and  light-blue  dress  of  other  com- 
panies, appertain  to  a  better  appointed  sort  of  men  than  the  lower 
division. 

There  may  be  2,000  men  in  Camp  Moore — not  more,  and  yet  every 
authority  gives  us  a  difterent  figure.  The  lowest  estimate  acknowledged 
for  the  two  camps  is  3,500  men,  and  The  Picayune  and  other  New 
Orleans  papers  still  speak  in  glowing  terms  of  the  5,000  heroes  assem- 
bled in  Tangipao.  Although  the  muster  there  presents  a  tolerable  show 
of  ball-stoppers,  it  would  require  months  of  discipline  to  enable  them  to 
pass  for  soldiers,  even  at  the  North  ;  and  besides  that  General  Tracy 
has  never  had  other  experience  than  in  militia  duty,  there  is  not,  I  think, 
a  single  West-Point  officer  in  his  whole  command.  The  only  hope  of 
shaping  such  raw  material  to  the  purposes  of  war  would  naturally  be 
by  the  admixture  of  a  proper  allowance  of  military  experience,  and 
until  those  possessing  it  shall  be  awarded  to  Camp  Moore  we  must  sigh 
over  the  delusion  which  pictures  its  denizens  to  the  good  people  of  New 
Orleans  as  "  fellows  ready  for  the  fray." 

While  the  hampers  are  being  ransacked,  an  express  locomotive  ar- 
rives from  town  with  dispatches  for  General  Tracy,  who  exclaims,  when 
reading  them,  "  Always  too  late  1"  from  which  expression  it  is  inferred 
that  orders  have  been  received  to  accept  the  just  disbanded  volunteers. 
The  locomotive  was  hitched  to  the  car  and  drew  it  back  to  the  city. 
Our  car  was  built  in  Massachusetts,  the  engine  in  Philadelphia,  and 
the  magnifier  of  its  lamp  in  Cincinnati.  What  will  the  South  do  for 
such  articles  in  future  ? 

May  26. — In  the  evening,  as  I  was  sitting  in  the  house  of  a  gentle- 
man in  the  city,  it  was  related,  as  a  topic  of  conversation,  that  a  very 
respectable  citizen  named  Bibb  had  had  a  difficulty  with  three  gentle- 
men, who  insisted  on  his  reading  out  the  news  for  them  from  his  paper, 
as  he  went  to  market  in  the  early  morning.  Mr.  Bibb  had  a  revolver, 
"  casually,"  in  his  pocket,  and  he  shot  one  citizen  dead  on  the  spot  and 
wounded  the  other  two  severely,  if  not  mortally.  "  Great  sympathy," 
I  am  told,  "  is  felt  for  Mr.  Bibb."  There  has  been  a  skirmish  some- 
where on  the  Potomac,  but  Bibb  has  done  more  business  "  on  his  own 
hook"  than  any  of  the  belligerents  up  to  this  date  ;  and  though  I  can 
scarcely  say  I  sympathize  with  him,  far  be  it  from  me  to  say  that  I  do 
not  respect  him. 

One  curious  result  of  the  civil  war  in  its  effects  on  the  South  will, 
probably,  extend  itself  as  the  conflict  continues — I  mean  the  refusal  of 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  S/ 

the  employers  to  pay  tlieir  workmen,  on  the  ground  of  inability.  The 
natural  consequence  is  much  distress  and  misery.  The  English  consul 
is  harrassed  by  applications  for  assistance  from  mechanics  and  skilled 
laborers  who  are  in  a  state  bordering  on  destitution  and  starvation. 
They  desire  nothing  better  than  to  leave  the  country  and  return  to  their 
homes.  All  business,  except  tailoring  for  soldiers  and  cognate  labors,  is 
suspended.  Money  is  not  to  be  had.  Bills  on  New  York  are  worth 
little  more  than  the  paper,  and  the  exchange  against  London  is  enor- 
mous— eighteen  per  cent,  discount  from  the  par  value  of  the  gold  in 
bank,  good  drafts  on  England  having  been  negotiated  yesterday  at 
ninety-two  per  cent.  One  house  has  been  compelled  to  accept  four  per 
cent,  on  a  draft  on  the  Xorth,  where  the  rate  was  usually  from  one- 
fourth  per  cent,  to  one-half  per  cent.  There  is  some  fear  that  the  police 
force  will  be  completely  broken  up,  and  the  imagination  refuses  to  guess 
at  the  result.  The  city  schools  will  probably  be  closed — altogether 
things  do  not  look  well  at  New  Orleans.  When  all  their  present  diffi- 
culties are  over,  a  struggle  between  the  mob  and  the  oligarchy,  or  those 
who  have  no  property  and  those  who  have,  is  inevitable  ;  for  one  of  the 
first  acts  of  the  legislature  will  probably  be  directed  to  establish  some 
sort  of  qualification  for  the  right  of  suffrage,  relying  on  the  force  which 
will  be  at  their  disposal  on  the  close  of  the  war.  As  at  New  York,  so 
at  New  Orleans.  Universal  sufi'rage  is  denounced  as  a  curse,  as  corrup- 
tion legalized,  confiscation  organized.  As  I  sat  in  a  well-furnished  club- 
room  last  night,  listening  to  a  most  respectable,  well-educated,  intelligent 
gentleman  descanting  on  the  practices  of  "the  Thugs" — an  organized 
band  who  coolly  and  deliberately  committed  murder  for  the  purpose  of 
intimidating  Irish  and  German  voters,  and  were  only  put  down  by  a 
vigilance  committee,  of  which  he  was  a  member — I  had  almost  to 
pinch  myself  to  see  that  I  was  not  the  victim  of  a  horrid  nightmare. 

Monday  J  May  27. — The  Washington  Artillery  went  ofi"  to-day  to  the 
wars — quo  fas  et  gloria  ducunt ;  but  I  saw  a  good  many  of  them  in 
the  streets  after  the  body  had  departed — spirits  who  were  disembodied. 
Their  uniform  is  very  becoming,  not  unlike  that  of  our  own  foot  artil- 
lery, and  they  have  one  battery  of  guns  in  good  order.  I  looked  in 
vain  for  any  account  of  Mr.  Bibb's  little  affair  yesterday  in  the  papers. 
Perhaps,  as  he  is  so  very  respectable,  there  will  not  be  any  reference  to 
it  at  all.  Indeed,  in  some  conversation  on  the  subject  last  night,  it  was 
admitted  that  when  men  were  very  rich  they  might  find  judges  and 
jurymen  as  tender  as  Danae,  and  policemen  as  permeable  as  the  waUs 
of  her  dungeon.  The  whole  question  now  is,  "  What  will  be  done  with 
the  blockade?"     The  Confederate  authorities  are  acting  with  a  high 


88  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

hand.  An  American  vessel,  the  Ariel,  which  had  cleared  out  of  port 
with  British  subjects  on  board,  has  been  overtaken,  captured,  and  her 
crew  have  been  put  in  prison.  The  ground  is  that  she  is  owned  in  main 
by  Black  Republicans.  The  British  subjects  have  received  protection 
from  the  consul.  Prizes  have  been  made  within  a  league  of  shore,  and 
in  one  instance,  when  the  captain  protested,  his  ship  was  taken  out  to 
sea,  and  was  then  recaptured  formally.  I  went  round  to  several  mer- 
chants to-day ;  they  were  all  gloomy  and  fierce.  In  fact,  the  blockade 
of  Mobile  is  announced,  and  that  of  New  Orleans  has  commenced,  and 
men-of-war  have  been  reported  off  the  Pas-a-l'outre.  The  South  is 
beginning  to  feel  that  it  is  being  bottled  up,  all  fermenting  and  frothing, 
and  is  somewhat  surprised  and  angry  at  the  natural  results  of  its  own 
acts,  or,  at  least,  of  the  proceedings  which  have  brought  about  a  state 
of  war.  Mr.  Slidell  did  not  seem  at  all  contented  with  the  telegrams 
from  the  North,  and  confessed  that  "  if  they  had  been  received  by  way 
of  Montgomery  he  should  be  alarmed."  The  names  of  persons  liable 
for  military  service  have  been  taken  down  in  several  districts,  and  Brit- 
ish subjects  have  been  included.  Several  applications  have  been  made 
to  Mr.  Mure,  the  consul,  to  interfere  in  behalf  of  men  who,  having 
enlisted,  are  now  under  orders  to  march,  and  who  must  leave  their  fam- 
ilies destitute  if  they  go  away ;  but  he  has,  of  course,  no  power  to  exer- 
cise any  influence  in  such  cases.  The  English  journals  to  the  4th  of 
May  have  arrived  here  to-day.  It  is  curious  to  see  how  quaint  in  their 
absurdity  the  telegrams  become  when  they  have  reached  the  age  of 
three  weeks.  I  am  in  the  hapless  position  of  knowing,  without  being 
able  to  remedy,  the  evils  from  this  source,  for  there  is  no  means  of  send- 
ing through  to  New  York  political  information  of  an 3^  sort  by  telegraph. 
The  electric  fluid  may  be  the  means  of  blasting  and  blighting  many 
reputations,  as  there  can  be  no  doubt  the  revelations  which  the  govern- 
ment at  "Washington  will  be  able  to  obtain  through  the  files  of  the  dis- 
patches it  has  seized  at  the  various  offices,  wdll  compromise  some  whose 
views  have  recently  undergone  remarkable  changes.  It  is  a  hint  which 
may  not  be  lost  on  governments  in  Europe  when  it  is  desirable  to  know 
friends  and  foes  hereafter,  .*^.nd  despotic  rulers  will  not  be  slow  to  take  a 
hint  from  "  the  land  of  liberty." 

Orders  have  been  issued  by  the  governor  to  the  tow-boats  to  take 
out  the  English  vessels  by  the  south-west  passage,  and  it  is  probable 
they  will  all  get  through  without  any  interruption  on  the  part  of  the 
blockading  force.  It  may  be  imagined  that  the  owners  and  consignees 
of  cargoes  from  England,  China,  and  India,  which  are  on  their  way 
here,  are  not  at  all  easy  in  their  minds.    Two  of  the  Washington  artillery 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHEEX    LIFE.  89 

died  in  the  train  on  tlieir  way  to  that  undefinable  region  called  "  the 
seat  of  war/' 

May  28. — The  Southern  states  have  already  received  the  assistance 
of  several  thousands  of  savages,  or  red  men,  and  "  the  warriors"  are 
actually  engaged  in  pursuing  the  United  States  troops  in  Texas,  in 
conjunction  with  the  state  volunteers.  A  few  days  ago  a  deputation 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  Five  Nations,  Creeks,  Choctaws,  Seminoles, 
Comanches,  and  others,  passed  through  New  Orleans  on  their  way  to 
Montgomery,  where  they  hoped  to  enter  into  terms  with  the  govern- 
ment for  the  transfer  of  their  pension  list  and  other  responsibilities 
from  Washington,  and  to  make  such  arrangements  for  their  property 
and  their  rights  as  would  justify  them  in  committing  their  fortunes  to 
the  issue  of  w^ar.  These  tribes  can  turn  out  twenty  thousand  warriors, 
scalping-knives,  tomahawks,  and  all.  The  chiefs  and  principal  men  are 
all  slave-holders. 

May  2^. — Anew  "affair"  occurred  this  afternoon.  The  servants 
of  the  house  in  which  I  am  staying  were  alarmed  by  violent  screams  in 
a  house  in  the  adjoining  street,  and  by  the  discharge  of  firearms — an 
occurrence  which,  like  the  cry  of  "murder"  in  the  streets  of  Havana, 
clears  the  streets  of  all  wayfarers,  if  they  be  wise,  and  do  not  wish  to 
stop  stray  bullets.     The  cause  is  thus  stated  in  the  journals : 

Sad  Family  Affair. — Last  evening,  at  the  residence  of  Mr.  A.  P.  Withers,  in 
Nayades  street,  near  Thaha,  Mr.  Withers  shot  and  dangerously  wounded  his  step- 
son, Mr.  A.  F.  W.  Matlier.  As  the  poHce  tell  it,  the  nature  of  the  aifair  was  this  : 
The  two  men  were  in  the  parlor,  and  talking  about  the  Washington  artillery,  which 
left  on  Monday  for  Virginia.  Mather  denounced  the  artillerists  in  strong  language, 
and  his  stepfather  denied  what  he  said.  Violent  language  followed,  and,  as  Withers 
says,  Mather  drew  a  pistol  and  shot  at  him  once,  not  hitting  him.  He  snatched  up 
a  Sharp's  revolver  that  was  lying  near  and  fired  four  times  at  his  stepson.  The 
latter  fell  at  the  third  fire,  and  as  he  was  falling  Withers  fired  a  fourth  time,  the 
bullet  wounding  the  hand  of  Mrs.  Withers,  wife  of  one  and  mother  of  the  other, 
she  having  rushed  in  to  interfere,  and  she  being  the  only  witness  of  the  affair. 
Withers  immediately  went  out  into  the  street  and  voluntarily  surrendered  himself 
to  Officer  Casson,  the  first  officer  he  met.  He  was  locked  up.  Three  of  his  shots 
hit  Mather,  two  of  them  in  the  breast.  Last  night  Mather  was  not  expected  to 
live. 

Another  difficulty  is  connected  with  the  free  colored  people  who 
may  be  found  in  prize  ships.     Read  and  judge  of  the  conclusion  : 

What  shall  be  done  with  them?  On  the  28th  inst..  Captain  G.  W.  Gregor,  of 
the  privateer  Calhoun,  brought  to  the  station  of  this  district  about  ten  negro  sailors, 
claiming  to  be  free,  found  on  board  the  brigs  Panama,  John  Adams,  and  Mermaid. 

The  recorder  sent  word  to  the  marshal  of  the  confederate  states  that  said  ne- 


90  PICrURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

groes  were  at  liis  disposition.     The  marshal  refused  to  receive  them  or  have  any 
thing  to  do  with  them,  whereupon  the  recorder  gave  the  following  decision : 

Though  I  have  no  authority  to  act  in  the  case,  I  think  it  is  my  duty  as  a  magis- 
trate and  good  citizen  to  take  upon  myself,  in  this  critical  moment,  the  responsibil- 
ity of  keeping  the  prisoners  in  custody,  firmly  beheving  it  would  not  only  be  bad 
policy,  but  a  dangerous  one,  to  let  them  loose  upon  the  community. 

The  following  dispatch  was  sent  by  the  recorder  to  the  Hon.  J.  P. 
Benjamin : 

New  Orleans,  May  29. 
To  J.  P.  Benjamin,  Richmond — Sir :  Ten  free  negroes  taken  by  a  privateer  from 
on  board  three  vessels  returning  to  Boston,  from  a  whaling  voyage,  have  been  de- 
livered to  me.     The  marshal  refuses  to  take  charge  of  them.     What  shaU  I  do 
with  them  ?  RespectfuUy,         A.  BLACHB, 

Recorder,  Second  District. 

The  monthly  statement  I  inclose  of  the  condition  of  the  New  Or- 
leans banks  on  the  25th  inst.,  must  be  regarded  as  a  more  satisfactory 
exhibit  to  their  depositors  and  shareholders,  though  of  no  greater 
benefit  to  the  commercial  community  in  this  its  hour  of  need  than  the 
tempting  show  of  a  pastrycook's  window  to  the  famished  street  poor. 
These  institutions  show  assets  estimated  at  $54,000,000,  of  which 
$20,000,000  are  in  specie  and  sterling  exchange,  to  meet  $25,000,000 
of  liabilities,  or  more  than  two  for  one.  But,  with  this  apparent  am- 
plitude of  resources,  the  New  Orleans  banks  are  at  a  dead-lock,  afford- 
ing no  discounts  and  buying  no  exchange — the  latter  usually  their 
greatest  source  of  profit  in  a  mart  'which  ships  so  largely  of  cotton, 
suofar,  and  flour,  and  the  commercial  movement  of  which  for  not  over 
nine  months  of  the  year  is  the  second  in  magnitude  among  the  cities 
of  the  old  Union. 

As  an  instance  of  the  caution  of  their  proceedings,  I  have  only  to 
state  that  a  gentleman  of  wealth  and  the  highest  respectability,  who 
needed  a  day  or  two  since  some  money  for  the  expenses  of  an  unex- 
pected journey,  was  compelled,  in  order  to  borrow  of  these  banks  the 
sum  of  $1,500,  to  hypothecate,  as  security  for  his  bill  at  sixty  days, 
$10,000  of  bonds  of  the  Confederate  states,  and  for  which  a  month 
ago  he  paid  par  in  coin — a  circumstance  which  reflects  more  credit 
upon  the  prudence  of  the  banks  than  upon  the  security  pledged  for 
this  loan. 


Natchez,  Miss.,  June  14,  1861. 
On  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  June  I  left  New  Orleans,  in  one  of  the 
steamers  proceeding  up  the  Mississippi,  along  that  fertile  but  uninterest- 
ing region  of  reclaimed  swamp  lands,  called  "  the  coast,"  which  extends 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  91 

along  both  banks  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  above  the  city. 
It  is  so  called  from  the  name  given  to  it,  "  La  Cote,"  by  the  early 
French  settlers.  Here  is  the  favored  land — alas  !  it  is  a  fever-land,  too 
— of  sugar-cane  and  Indian  corn.  To  those  who  have  very  magnificent 
conceptions  of  the  Mississippi,  founded  on  mere  arithmetical  computa- 
tions of  leagues,  or  vague  geographical  data,  it  may  be  astonishing,  but 
it  is  nevertheless  true,  the  Mississippi  is  artificial  for  many  hundreds  of 
miles.  I*fature  has,  of  course,  poured  out  the  waters,  but  man  has  made 
the  banks.  By  a  vast  system  of  raised  embankments,  called  levees,  the 
river  is  constrained  to  abstain  from  overflowing  the  swamps,  now  drain- 
ed, and  green  with  wealth-producing  crops.  At  the  present  moment 
the  surface  of  the  river  is  several  feet  higher  than  the  land  at  each  side, 
and  the  steamer  moves  on  a  level  with  the  upper  stories,  or  even  the 
roofs  of  the  houses,  reminding  one  of  such  scenery  as  could  be  witnessed 
in  the  old  days  of  treckshuyt  in  Holland.  The  river  is  not  broader  than 
the  Thames  at  Gravesend,  and  is  quite  as  richly  colored.  But  then  it 
is  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  deep,  and  for  hundreds  of  miles  it  has 
not  less  that  one  hundred  feet  of  water.  Thus  deeply  has  it  scooped 
into  the  rich  clay  and  marl  in  its  course :  but  as  it  flows  out  to  join  the 
sea,  it  throws  down  the  vast  precipitates  which  render  the  bars  so  shift- 
ing and  difficult,  and  bring  the  mighty  river  to  such  a  poor  exit.  A  few 
miles  above  the  wharfs  and  large  levees  of  the  city,  the  country  really 
appears  to  be  a  sea  of  light  green,  with  shores  of  forest  in  the  distance, 
about  two  miles  away  from  the  bank.  This  forest  is  the  uncleared  land, 
extending  for  a  considerable  way  back,  which  each  planter  hopes  to 
take  into  culture  one  day  or  other,  and  which  he  now  uses  to  provide 
timber  for  his  farm.  Xear  the  banks  are  houses  of  wood,  with  porti- 
coes, pillars,  verandahs,  and  sun-shades,  generally  painted  white  and 
green.  There  is  a  great  uniformity  of  style,  but  the  idea  aimed  at 
seems  to  be  that  of  the  old  French  chateau,  with  the  addition  of  a  col- 
onnade around  the  ground  story.  These  dwellings  are  generally  in  the 
midst  of  small  gardens,  rich  in  semi-tropical  vegetation,  with  glorious 
magnolias,  now  in  full  bloom,  rising  in  their  midst,  and  groves  of  live- 
oak  interspersed.  The  levee  is  as  hard  and  dry  as  the  bank  of  a  canal. 
Here  and  there  it  is  propped  up  by  wooden  revetements.  Between  it 
and  the  uniform  line  of  palings,  which  guards  the  river  face  of  the  plan- 
tations, there  is  a  carriage-road.  In  the  enclosure,  near  each  residence, 
there  is  a  row  of  small  wooden  huts,  whitewashed,  in  which  live  the 
negroes  attached  to  the  service  of  the  f;imily.  Outside  the  negroes  who 
labor  in  the  fields  are  quartered,  in  similar  constructions,  which  are  like 
the  small  single  huts,  called   "  Maltese,"  which  were   plentiful   in   the 


92  PICTURES    OF    SOUTnEKN   LIFE. 

Crimea.     They  are  rarely  furnished  with  windows ;  a  wooden  slide  or 
a  grated  space  admits  such  light  and  air  as  they  want.     One  of  the 
most  striking  features  of  the  landscape  is,  its  utter  want  of  life.     There 
were  a  few  horsemen  exercising  in  a  field,  some  gigs  and  buggies  along 
the  levee  roads,  and  the  little  groups  at  the  numerous  watering-places, 
jrenerally  containing  a  few  children  in  tom-fool  costumes,  as  zouaves, 
chasseurs,  or  some  sort  of  infantry ;  but  the  slaves  who  were  there  had 
come  down  to  look  after  luggage   or  their  masters.     There  were  no 
merry,  laughing,  chattering  gatherings  of  black  fac(3s  and  white  teeth, 
such  as  we  hear  about.     Indeed,  the  negroes  are  not  allowed  hereabouts 
to  stir  out  of  their  respective  plantations,  or  to  go  along  the  road  with- 
out passes  from  their  owners.     The  steamer  J.  L.  Cotton,  which  was 
not  the  less  popular,  perhaps,  because  she  had  the  words  "  low  pressure" 
conspicuous  on  her  paddle-boxes,  carried  a  fair  load  of  passengers,  most  of 
whom  were  members  of  Creole  families  living  on  the  coast.     The  proper 
meaning  of  the  word  "  Creole"  is  very  different  from  that  which  we  at- 
tach to  it.      It  signifies  a  person  of  Spanish  or  French  descent,  born  in 
Louisiana  or  in  the  southern  or  tropical  countries.      The  great  majority 
of  the  planters  here   are  French  Creoles,  and  it  is  said  they  are  kinder 
and  better  masters  than  Americans  or  Scotch,  the  latter  being  consider- 
ed the  most  severe.     Intelligent  on  most  subjects,  they  are  resolute  in 
the  belief  that  England  must  take  their  cotton  or  perish.     Even  the 
keenest  of  their  financiers,  Mr.  Forstall,  an  Irish  Creole,  who  is  repre- 
sentative of  the  house  of  Baring,  seems  inclined  to  this  faith,  though  he 
is  prepared  with  many  ingenious  propositions,  which  w^ould  rejoice  Mr. 
Gladstone's  inmost  heart,  to  raise  money  for  the  Southern  Confederacy 
and  make  them  rich  exceedingly.     One  thing  has  rather  puzzled  him. 
M.  Baroche,  who  is  in  New  Orleans,  either  as  a  looker-on  or  as  an  ac- 
credited employe  of  his  father  or  of  the  French  government,  suggested 
to  him  that  it  would  not  be  possible  for  all  the  disposable  mercantile 
marine  of  England  and  France  together  to  carry  the  cotton  crop,  which 
hitherto  gave  employment  to  a  great  number  of  American  vessels,  now 
tabooed  by  the  South,  and  the  calculations  seem  to  bear  out  the  truth 
of  the  remark.     Be  that  as  it  may,  Mr.  Forstall  is  quite  prepared  to  show 
that  the  South  can  raise  a  prodigious  revenue  by  a  small  direct  taxation, 
for  which  the  machinery  already  exists  in  every  parish  of  the   state, 
and  that  the  North  must  be  prodigiously  damaged  in  the  struggle,  if 
not  ruined  outright.     One  great  source  of  strength  in  the  South  is,  its 
readiness — at  least,  its  professed  alacrity — to  yield  any  thing  that  is 
asked.      There  is  unbounded  confidence  in  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis.     Where- 
ever  I  go,  the  same  question  is  asked :   "  Well,  sir,  what  do  you  think 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  93 

of  our  President  ?  Does  he  not  strike  you  as  being  a  very  able  man  ?" 
In  finance  he  is  trusted  as  much  as  in  war.  When  he  sent  orders  to 
the  New  Orleans  banks,  some  time  ago,  to  suspend  specie  payment,  he 
exercised  a  power  which  could  not  be  justified  by  any  reading  of  the 
Southern  constitution.  All  men  applauded.  The  President  of  the 
United  States  is  far  from  receiving  any  such  support  or  confidence,  and 
it  need  not  be  said  any  act  of  his,  of  the  same  nature  as  that  of  Mr. 
Davis,  would  have  created  an  immense  outcry  against  him.  But  the 
South  has  all  the  unanimity  of  a  conspiracy,  and  its  unanimity  is  not 
greater  than  its  confidence.  One  is  rather  tired  of  endless  questions, 
"  Who  can  conquer  such  men  ?"  But  the  question  should  be,  "  Can 
the  North  conquer  us?"  Of  the  fustian  about  dying  in  their  tracks  and 
fighting  till  every  man,  woman  and  child  is  exterminated,  there  is  a 
great  deal  too  much,  but  they  really  believe  that  the  fate  which  Poland 
could  not  avert,  to  which  France,  as  well  as  the  nations  she  overran, 
bowed  the  head,  can  never  reach  them.  With  their  faithful  negroes  to 
raise  their  corn,  sugar  and  cotton  while  they  are  at  the  wars,  and  Eng- 
land and  France  to  take  the  latter  and  pay  them  for  it,  they  believe 
they  can  meet  the  American  world  in  arms.  A  glorious  future  opens 
before  them.  Illimitable  fields,  tilled  by  multitudinous  negroes,  open 
on  their  vision,  and  prostrate  at  the  base  of  the  mountain  of  cotton, 
from  which  they  rule  the  kings  of  the  earth,  the  empires  of  Europe 
shall  lie,  with  all  their  gold,  their  manufactures,  and  their  industry,  cry- 
ing out,  "  Pray  give  us  more  cotton  !     All  we  ask  is  more  !" 

But  here  is  the  boat  stopping  opposite  Mr.  Roman's — ex-governor 
of  the  state  of  Louisiana,  and  ex-commissioner  of  the  Confederate  gov- 
ernment at  Montgomery  to  the  government  of  the  United  States  at 
Washington.  Not  very  long  ago  he  could  boast  of  a  very  handsome 
garden — the  French  Creoles  love  gardens — Americans  and  English  do 
not  much  affect  them;  when  the  Mississippi  was  low  one  fine  day,  levee 
and  all  slid  down  the  bank  into  the  maw  of  the  riv^er,  and  were  carried 
oflf.  This  is  what  is  called  the  "  caving  in"  of  a  bank;  when  the  levee 
is  broken  through  at  high  water  it  is  said  that  a  "  crevasse"  has  taken 
place.  The  governor,  as  he  is  called — once  a  captain  always  a  captain 
— has  still  a  handsome  garden,  however,  though  his  house  has  been 
brought  unpleasantly  near  the  river.  His  mansion  and  the  out-offices 
stand  in  the  shade  of  magnoUas,  green  oaks,  and  other  Southern  trees. 
To  the  last  Governor  Roman  was  a  Unionist,  but  when  his  state  went 
he  followed  her,  and  now  he  is  a  Secessionist  for  life  and  for  death,  not 
extravagant  in  his  hopes,  but  calm  and  resolute,  and  fully  persuaded 
that  in  the  end  the  South  must  win.     As  he  does  not  raise  any  cotton. 


94  riCTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

the  consequences  for  him  will  be  extremely  serious  should  sugar  be 
greatly  depreciated ;  but  the  consumption  of  that  article  in  America  is 
very  large,  and,  though  the  markets  in  the  North  and  West  are  cut  off, 
it  is  hoped,  as  no  imported  sugar  can  find  its  way  into  the  states,  that 
the  Sonth  will  consume  all  its  own  produce  at  a  fair  rate.  The  gover- 
nor is  a  very  good  type  of  the  race,  which  is  giving  way  a  little  before 
the  encroachments  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  he  possesses  all  the  ease, 
candid  manner,  and  suavity  of  the  old  French  gentleman — of  that  school 
in  which  there  are  now  few  masters  or  scholars.  He  invited  me  to  visit 
the  negro  quarters.  "  Go  where  you  like,  do  what  you  please,  ask  any 
questions.  There  is  nothing  we  desire  to  conceal."  As  we  passed  the 
house,  two  or  three  young  women  flitted  past  in  snow-white  dresses 
Tvith  pink  sashes,  and  no  doubtful  crinolines,  but  their  head-dresses  were 
not  en  regie — handkerchiefs  of  a  gay  color.  They  were  slaves  going  off 
to  a  dance  at  the  sugar-house ;  but  they  were  indoor  servants,  and 
therefore  better  off,  in  the  w^ay  of  clothes  than  their  fellow  slaves  who 
labor  in  the  field.  On  approaching  a  high  paling  at  the  rear  of  the 
house  the  scraping  of  fiddles  was  audible.  It  was  Sunday,  and  Mr. 
Roman  informed  me  that  he  gave  his  negroes  leave  to  have  a  dance  on 
that  day.  The  planters  who  are  not  Catholics  rarely  give  any  such 
indulgence  to  their  slaves,  though  they  do  not  always  make  them  work 
on  that  day,  and  sometimes  let  them  enjoy  themselves  on  the  Saturday 
afternoon.  Entering  a  wicket  gate,  a  quadrangular  enclosure,  lined  with 
negro  huts,  lay  before  us.  The  bare  ground  was  covered  with  litter  of 
various  kinds,  amid  which  pigs  and  poultry  were  pasturing.  Dogs, 
puppies,  and  curs  of  low  degree  scampered  about  on  all  sides ;  and  deep 
in  a  pond,  swinking  in  the  sun,  stood  some  thirty  or  forty  mules,  en- 
joying their  day  of  rest.  The  huts  of  the  negroes  belonging  to  the 
personal  service  of  the  house  were  separated  from  the  negroes  engaged  in 
field  labor  by  a  close  wooden  paling ;  but  there  was  no  difterence  in  the 
shape  and  size  of  their  dwellings,  which  consisted  generally  of  one  large 
room,  divided  by  a  partition  occasionally  into  two  bedrooms.  Outside 
the  whitewash  gave  them  a  cleanly  appearance ;  inside  they  were  dingy 
and  squalid — no  glass  in  the  windows,  swarms  of  flies,  some  clothes 
hanging  on  nails  in  the  boards,  dressers  with  broken  crockery,  a  bed- 
stead of  rough  carpentry;  a  fireplace  in  which,  hot  as  w^as  the  day,  a 
log  lay  in  embers ;  a  couple  of  tin  cooking  utensils ;  in  the  obscure,  the 
occupant,  male  or  female,  awkward  and  shy  before  strangers,  and  silent 
till  spoken  to.  Of  course  there  were  no  books,  for  the  slaves  do  not 
read.  They  all  seemed  respectful  to  their  master.  AVe  saw  very  old  men 
and  very  old  women,  who  were  the  canker-w^onns  of  the  estate,  and  w^ere 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHEKN   LIFE.  95 

dozing  away  into  eternity  mindful  only  of  hominy,  and  pig,  and  molasses. 
Two  negro  fiddlers  were  working  their  bows  with  energy  in  front  of  one 
of  the  huts,  and  a  crowd  of  little  children  were  listening  to  the  music, 
and  a  few  grown-up  persons  of  color — some  of  them  from  the  adjoining 
plantations.  The  children  are  generally  dressed  in  a  little  sack  of  coarse 
calico,  which  answers  all  reasonable  purposes,  even  if  it  be  not  very 
clean.  It  might  be  an  interesting  subject  of  inquiry  to  the  natural 
philosophers  who  follow  crinology  to  determine  why  it  is  that  the  hair 
of  the  infant  negro,  or  of  the  child  up  to  six  or  seven  years  of  age,  is 
generally  a  fine  red  russet,  or  even  gamboge  color,  and  gradually  darkens 
into  dull  ebon.  These  little  bodies  were  mostly  large-stomached,  well 
fed,  and  not  less  happy  than  freeborn  children,  although  much  more 
valuable — for  once  they  get  over  juvenile  dangers,  and  advance  toward 
nine  or  ten  years  of  age,  they  rise  in  value  to  £100  or  more,  even  in 
times  when  the  market  is  low  and  money  is  scarce.  The  women  were 
not  very  well-favored,  except  one  yellow  girl,  whose  child  was  quite 
white,  with  fair  hair  and  light  eyes ;  and  the  men  Avere  disguised  in 
such  strangely  cut  clothes,  their  hats  and  shoes  and  coats  were  so  won- 
derfully made,  that  one  could  not  tell  what  they  were  like.  On  all 
faces  there  was  a  gravity  which  must  be  the  index  to  serene  content- 
ment and  perfect  comfort,  for  those  who  ought  to  know  best  declare 
they  are  the  happiest  race  in  the  world.  It  struck  me  more  and  more, 
as  I  examined  the  expression  of  the  faces  of  the  slaves  all  over  the 
South,  that  deep  dejection  is  the  prevailing,  if  not  universal,  character- 
istic of  the  race.  Let  a  physiognomist  go  and  see.  Here  there  were 
abundant  evidences  that  they  were  well  treated,  for  they  had  good 
clothing  of  its  kind,  good  food,  and  a  master  who  wittingly  could  do 
them  no  injustice,  as  he  is,  I  am  sure,  incapable  of  it.  Still,  they  all 
looked  exceedingly  sad,  and  even  the  old  woman  who  boasted  that  she 
had  held  her  old  master  in  her  arms  when  he  was  an  infant,  did  not 
look  cheerful,  as  the  nurse  at  home  would  have  done,  at  the  sight  of 
her  ancient  charge.  The  precincts  of  the  huts  were  not  clean,  and  the 
enclosure  was  full  of  weeds,  in  which  poultry — the  perquisites  of  the 
slaves — were  in  full  possession.  The  negroes  rear  domestic  birds  of  all 
kinds,  and  sell  eggs  and  poultry  to  their  masters.  The  money  they 
spend  in  purchasing  tobacco,  molasses,  clothes  and  flour — whisky,  their 
great  delight,  they  must  not  have.  Some  seventy  or  eighty  hands  were 
quartered  in  this  part  of  the  estate.  The  silence  which  reigned  in  the 
huts  as  soon  as  the  fiddlers  had  gone  off"  to  the  sugar-house  was  pro- 
found. Before  leaving  the  quarter  I  was  taken  to  the  hospital,  whicli 
v.-as  in  charge  of  an  old  negress.     The  naked  rooms  contained  several 


96  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

flock  beds  on  rough  stands,  and  five  patients,  three  of  whom  were  women. 
They  sat  hstlessly  on  the  beds,  looking  out  into  space;  no  books  to 
amuse  them,  no  conversation — nothing  but  their  own  dull  thoughts,  if 
they  had  any.  They  were  suffering  from  pneumonia  and  swellings  of 
the  glands  of  the  neck;  one  man  had  fever.  Their  medical  attendant 
visits  them  regularly,  and  each  plantation  has  a  practitioner,  who  is 
engaged  by  the  term  for  his  services.  Negroes  have  now  only  a  nominal 
value  in  the  market — that  is,  the  price  of  a  good  field  band  is  as  high 
as  ever,  but  there  is  no  one  to  buy  him  at  present,  and  no  money  to 
pay  for  him,  and  the  trade  of  the  slave-dealers  is  very  bad.  The  mena- 
geries of  the  "  Virginia  negroes  constantly  on  sale.  Money  advanced 
on  all  descriptions  of  property,"  etc.,  must  be  full — their  pockets  empty. 
This  question  of  price  is  introduced  incidentally  in  reference  to  the 
treatment  of  negroes.  It  has  often  been  said  to  me  that  no  one  will  ill- 
use  a  creature  worth  £300  or  £400,  but  that  is  not  a  universal  rule. 
Much  depends  on  temper,  and  many  a  hunting-field  could  show  that  if 
value  be  a  guarantee  for  good  usage,  the  slave  is  more  fortunate  than 
his  fellow  chattel,  the  horse.  If  the  growth  of  sugar-cane,  cotton  and 
corn,  be  the  great  end  of  man's  mission  on  earth,  and  if  all  masters  were 
like  Governor  Roman,  slavery  might  be  defended  as  a  natural  and 
innocuous  institution.  Sugar  and  cotton  are,  assuredly,  two  gi-eat  agen- 
cies in  this  latter  world.     The  older  got  on  well  enough  without  them. 

The  scraping  of  the  fiddles  attracted  us  to  the  sugar-house,  a  large 
brick  building  with  a  factory-looking  chimney,  where  the  juice  of  the 
cane  is  expressed,  boiled,  granulated,  and  prepared  for  the  refiner.  In 
a  space  of  the  floor  unoccupied  by  machinery  some  fifteen  women  and 
as  many  men  were  assembled,  and  four  couples  were  dancing  a  kind 
of  Irish  jig  to  the  music  of  the  negro  musicians — a  double  shuffle  and 
a  thumping  ecstasy,  with  loose  elbows,  pendulous  paws,  and  angulated 
knees,  heads  thrown  back,  and  backs  arched  inwards — a  glazed  eye, 
intense  solemnity  of  mien,  worthy  of  the  minuet  in  Don  Giovanni.  At 
this  time  of  year  there  is  no  work  done  in  the  sugar-house,  but  when 
the  crushing  and  boiling  are  going  on  the  labor  is  intense,  and  all  the 
hands  work  in  gangs  night  and  day  ;  and,  if  the  heat  of  the  fires  be 
superadded  to  the  temperature  in  September,  it  may  be  conceded  that 
nothing  but  "  involuntary  servitude"  could  go  through  the  toil  and 
suffering  required  to  produce  sugar  for  us.  This  is  not  the  place  for 
an  account  of  the  processes  and  machinery  used  in  the  manufacture, 
wdiich  is  a  scientific  operation,  greatly  improved  by  recent  discoveries 
and  apparatus. 

In  the  afternoon  the  governor's   son   came  in  from  the  company 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  97 

wbich  lie  commands.  He  has  been  camping  out  witli  them  to  accus- 
tom them  to  the  duties  of  actual  war,  and  he  told  me  that  all  his  men 
were  most  zealous  and  exceedhigly  proficient.  They  are  all  of  the 
best  families  around — planters,  large  and  small,  their  sons  and  relatives, 
and  a  few  of  the  Creole  population,  who  arc  engaged  as  hoopers  and 
stavemakers.  One  of  the  latter  had  just  stained  his  hands  with  blood. 
He  had  reason  to  believe  a  culpable  intimacy  existed  between  his  wife 
and  his  foreman.  A  circumstance  occurred  which  appeared  to  confirm 
his  worst  suspicions.  He  took  out  his  firelock,  and,  meeting  the  man, 
he  shot  him  dead  without  uttering  a  word,  and  then  delivered  himself 
up  to  the  authorities.  It  is  probable  his  punishment  will  be  exceed- 
ingly light,  as  divorce  suits  and  actions  for  damages  are  not  in  favor  in 
this  part  of  the  world.  Although  the  people  are  Roman  Catholics,  it 
is  by  no  means  unusual  to  permit  relations  within  the  degree  of  con- 
sanguinity forbidden  by  the  church  to  intermarry,  and  the  elastic  na- 
ture of  the  rules  which  are  laid  down  by  the  priesthood  in  that  respect 
would  greatly  astonish  the  orthodox  in  Ireland  or  Bavaria.  The 
whole  of  the  planters  and  their  dependents  along  "  the  coast"  are  in 
arms.  There  is  but  one  sentiment,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  among  them, 
and  that  is,  "  We  will  never  submit  to  the  North."  In  the  evening, 
several  officers  of  M.  Alfred  Roman's  company  and  neighbors  came  in, 
and  out  under  the  shade  of  the  trees,  in  the  twilight,  illuminated  by 
the  flashing  fireflies,  politics  were  discussed — all  on  one  side,  of  course, 
with  general  conversation  of  a  more  agreeable  character.  The  cus- 
tomary language  of  the  Creoles  is  French,  and  several  newspapers  in 
French  are  published  in  the  districts  around  us  ;  but  they  speak  Eng- 
lish fluently. 

Next  morning,  early,  the  governor  was  in  the  saddle  and  took  me 
round  to  see  his  plantation.  We  rode  through  alleys  formed  by  the 
tail  stalks  of  the  maize,  out  to  the  wide,  unbroken  fields — hedgeless, 
unwalled,  where  the  green  cane  was  just  learning  to  wave  its  long 
shoots  in  the  wind.  Along  the  margin  in  the  distance  there  is  an  un- 
broken boundary  of  forest  extending  all  along  the  swamp  lands,  and 
two  miles  in  depth.  From  the  river  to  the  forest  there  is  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  or  more  of  land  of  the  very  highest  quality — unfathomable, 
and  producing  from  one  to  one  and  a  half  hogshead  an  acre.  Away  in 
the  midst  of  the  crops  were  white -looking  masses,  reminding  me  of 
sepoys  and  sowars  as  seen  in  Indian  fields  in  the  morning  sun  on  many 
a  march.  As  we  rode  toward  them  we  overtook  a  cart  with  a  large 
cask,  a  number  of  tin  vessels,  a  bucket  of  molasses,  a  pail  of  milk,  and 
a  tub  full  of  hominy  or  boiled  Indian  corn.  The  cask  contained  water 
5 


98       ■  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

for  tlie  use  of  tlie  negroes,  and  the  other  vessels  held  the  materials  for 
their  breakfast,  in  addition  to  which  they  generally  have  each  a  dried 
fish.  The  food  looked  ample  and  wholesome,  such  as  any  laboring  man 
would  be  well  content  with  every  day.  There  were  three  gangs  at 
work  in  the  fields.  One  of  men,  with  twenty  mules  and  ploughs,  was 
engaged  in  running  through  the  farrows  between  the  canes,  cutting  up 
the  weeds  and  clearing  away  the  grass,  which  is  the  enemy  of  the 
growing  shoot.  The  mules  are  of  a  fine,  large,  good-tempered  kind, 
and  understand  their  work  almost  as  well  as  the  drivers,  who  are  usu- 
ally the  more  intelligent  hands  on  the  plantation.  The  overseer,  a 
sharp-looking  Creole,  on  a  lanky  pony,  whip  in  hand,  superintends  their 
labors,  and,  after  a  few  directions  and  a  salutation  to  the  governor, 
rode  off"  to  another  part  of  the  farm.  The  negroes  when  spoken  to 
saluted  us,  and  came  forward  to  shake  hands — a  civility  which  must 
not  be  refused.  With  the  exception  of  crying  to  their  mules,  however, 
they  kept  silence  when  at  work.  Another  gang  consisted  of  forty 
men,  who  were  hoeing  out  the  grass  in  Indian  corn — easy  work 
enough.  The  third  gang  was  of  thirty-six  or  thirty-seven  women,  who 
were  engaged  in  hoeing  out  cane.  Their  clothing  seemed  heavy  for 
the  climate,  their  shoes  ponderous  and  ill-made,  so  as  to  wear  away  the 
feet  of  their  thick  stockings.  Coarse  straw  hats  and  bright  cotton 
handkerchiefs  protected  their  heads  from  the  sun.  The  silence  which 
I  have  already  alluded  to  prevailed  among  these  gangs  also — not  a 
sound  could  be  heard  but  the  blows  of  the  hoe  on  the  heavy  clods. 
In  the  rear  of  each  gang  stood  a  black  overseer,  with  a  heavy-thonged 
whip  over  his  shoulder.  If  "  Alcibiades"  or  "  Pompey,"  were  called 
out  he  came  with  outstretched  hand  to  ask  "  how  do  you  do,"  and 
then  returned  to  his  labor;  but  the  ladies  were  coy,  and  scarcely  look- 
ed up  from  under  their  flapping  chapeaxix  de  paille  at  their  visitors. 
Those  who  are  mothers  leave  their  children  in  the  charge  of  certain 
old  women,  unfit  for  any  thing  else,  and  "  suckers,"  as  they  are  called, 
are  permitted  to  go  home  to  give  the  infants  the  breast  at  appointed 
periods  in  the  day.  I  returned  home  multa  mecum  revoUns.  After 
breakfast,  in  spite  of  a  very  fine  sun,  which  was  not  unworthy  of  a 
January  noon  in  Cawnpore,  we  drove  forth  to  visit  some  planter  friends 
of  M.  Roman,  a  few  miles  down  the  river.  The  levee  road  is  dusty, 
but  the  gardens,  white  railings  and  neat  houses  of  the  planters  looked 
fresh  and  clean  enough.  There  is  a  great  difference  in  the  appearance 
of  the  slaves'  quarters.  Some  are  neat,  others  are  dilapidated  and 
mean.  As  a  general  rule,  it  might  be  said  that  the  goodness  of  the 
cottages  was  in  proportion  to  the  frontage  of  each  plantation  toward 


riiTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  99 

the  river,  wliich  is  a  fair  index  to  the  size  of  the  estate  wherever  the 
river  bank  is  straight.  The  lines  of  the  estates  are  drawn  perpendicu- 
larly to  the  banks,  so  that  the  convexity  or  concavity  of  the  bends  de- 
termines the  frontage  of  the  plantation. 

The  absence  of  human  beings  in  the  fields  and  on  the  roads  was  re- 
markable. The  gangs  at  work  were  hidden  in  the  deep  corn,  and  not 
a  soul  met  us  on  the  road  for  many  miles  except  one  planter  in  his  gig. 
At  one  place  we  visited  a  very  handsome  garden,  laid  out  with  hot- 
houses and  conservatories,  ponds  full  of  magnificent  Victoria  Regia  in 
flower,  orange-trees,  and  many  tropical  plants,  native  and  foreign,  date 
and  other  palms.  The  proprietor  owns  an  extensive  sugar  refinery. 
We  visited  his  factory  and  mills,  but  the  heat  from  the  boilers,  which 
seemed  too  much  even  for  the  all  but  naked  negroes  who  were  at  work, 
did  not  tempt  us  to  make  a  very  long  sojourn  inside.  The  ebony  faces 
and  polished  black  backs  of  the  slaves  were  streaming  with  perspira- 
tion as  they  toiled  over  boiler,  vat  and  centrifugal  driers.  The  good 
refiner  was  not  gaining  much  at  present,  for  sugar  has  been  falling 
7'apidly  in  New  Orleans,  and  the  300,000  barrels  produced  annually 
in  the  South  will  fall  short  in  the  yield  of  profit,  which,  on  an  average, 
may  be  taken- at  £11  a  hogshead,  without  counting  the  molasses,  for 
the  planter.  All  the  planters  hereabouts  have  sown  an  unusual  quantity 
of  Indian  corn,  so  as  to  have  food  for  the  negroes  if  the  war  lasts, 
without  any  distress  from  inland  or  sea  blockade.  The  absurdity  of 
supposing  that  a  blockade  can  injure  them  in  the  way  of  supply  is  a 
favorite  theme  to  descant  upon.  They  may  find  out,  however,  that  it 
is  no  contemptible  means  of  warfare.  At  night,  after  our  return,  a 
large  bonfire  was  lighted  on  the  bank  to  attract  the  steamer  to  call  for 
my  luggage,  which  she  was  to  leave  at  a  point  on  the  opposite  shore, 
fourteen  miles  higher  up,  and  I  perceived  that  there  are  regular  patrols 
and  watchmen  at  night  who  look  after  levees  and  the  negroes ;  a  num- 
ber of  dogs  are  also  loosed,  but  I  am  assured  by  a  gentleman  who  has 
written  me  a  long  letter  on  the  subject  from  Montgomery,  that  these 
dogs  do  not  tear  the  negroes ;  they  are  taught  merely  to  catch  and 
mumble  them,  to  treat  them  as  a  retriever  well  broken  uses  a  wild 
duck.  Next  day  I  left  the  hospitable  house  of  Governor  Roman,  full 
of  regard  for  his  personal  character  and  of  his  wishes  for  his  happiness 
and  prosperity,  but  assuredly  in  no  degree  satisfied  that  even  with 
his  care  and  kindness  the  "domestic  institution"  can  be  rendered 
tolerable  or  defensible,  if  it  be  once  conceded  that  the  negro  is  a 
human  being  with  a  soul — or  with  the  feelings  of  a  man.  On  those 
points  there   are  ingenious  hypotheses  and  subtle  argumentations  in 


100  PICTUKES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

print  "  down  South "  which  do  much  to  comfort  the  consciences  of 
the  anthropropietors.  The  negro  skull  wont  hold  as  many  ounces  of 
shot  as  the  white  man's.  Can  there  be  a  more  potent  proof  that  the 
white  man  has  a  right  to  sell  and  to  own  a  creature  who  carries  a 
smaller  charge  of  snipe-dust  in  his  head?  He  is  plantigrade,  and 
curved  as  to  the  tibia !  Cogent  demonstration  that  he  was  made  ex- 
pressly to  work  for  the  arch-footed,  straight-tibiaed  Caucasian.  He  has 
a  rete  mucosum  and  a  colored  pigment.  Surely,  he  cannot  have  a  soul 
of  the  same  color  as  that  of  an  Italian  or  a  Spaniard,  far  less  of  a  flaxen- 
haired  Saxon  !  See  these  peculiarities  in  the  frontal  sinus — in  sinciput 
or  occiput !  Can  you  doubt  that  the  being  with  a  head  of  that  nature 
Avas  made  only  to  till,  hoe,  and  dig  for  another  race  ?  Besides,  the 
Bible  says  that  he  is  a  son  of  Ham,  and  prophecy  must  be  carried  out 
in  the  rice-swamps,  sugar-canes,  and  maize-fields  of  the  Southern  Con- 
federation. It's  flat  blasphemy  to  set  yourself  against  it.  Our  Saviour 
sanctions  slavery  because  he  does  not  say  a  word  against  it,  and  it's 
very  likely  that  St.  Paul  was  a  slave-owner.  Had  cotton  and  sugar 
been  known,  he  might  have  been  a  planter !  Besides,  the  negro  is 
civilized  by  being  carried  away  from  Africa  and  set  to  work,  instead  of 
idling  in  native  inutility.  What  hope  is  there  of  Christianizing  the 
African  races  except  by  the  agency  of  the  apostles  from  New  Orleans, 
Mobile  or  Charleston,  who  sing  the  sweet  songs  of  Zion  Avith  such 
vehemence  and  clamor  so  fervently  for  baptism  in  the  waters  of  the 
"  Jawdam?"  If  these  high  physical,  metaphysical,  moral  and  religious 
reasonings  do  not  satisfy  you,  and  you  venture  to  be  unconvinced  and 
to  say  so,  then  I  advise  you  not  come  within  reach  of  a  mass  meeting 
of  our  citizens,  who  may  be  able  to  find  a  rope  and  a  tree  in  the 
neighborhood. 

As  we  jog  along  in  an  easy  rolling  carriage  drawn  by  a  pair  of  stout 
horses,  a  number  of  white  people  meet  us  coming  from  the  Catholic 
chapel  of  the  parish,  where  they  had  been  attending  a  service  for  the 
repose  of  the  soul  of  a  lady  much  beloved  in  the  iieighborhood.  The 
black  people  are  supposed  to  have  very  happy  souls,  or  to  be  as  utteily 
lost  as  Mr.  Shandy's  homuncule  was  under  certain  circumstances,  for  I 
have  failed  to  find  that  any  such  services  are  ever  considered  necessary 
in  their  case,  although  they  may  have  been  very  good — or  where  it 
would  be  most  desirable — very  bad  Catholics.  My  good  young  friend, 
clever,  amiable,  accomplished,  who  had  a  dark  cloud  of  sorrow  weigh- 
ing down  his  young  life  that  softened  him  to  almost  feminine  tender- 
ness, saw  none  of  these  things.  He  talked  of  foreign  travel  in  days 
gone  by — of  Paris  and  poetry,  of  England  and  London  hotels,  of  the 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  3  01 

great  Careme,  and  of  Alexis  Soyer,  of  pictures,  of  politics — de  omni 
scibili.  The  storm  gathered  overhead,  and  the  rain  fell  in  torrents — 
the  Mississippi  flowed  lifelessly  by — not  a  boat  on  its  broad  surface. 
The  road  passed  by  plantations  smaller  and  poorer  than  I  have  yet 
seen,  belonging  to  small  planters,  with  only  some  ten  or  twelve  slaves 
all  told.  The  houses  were  poor  and  ragged.  At  last  we  reached 
Governor  Manning's  place,  and  drove  to  the  overseer's — a  large  heavy- 
eyed  old  man,  who  asked  us  into  his  house  from  out  of  the  rain  till  the 
boat  was  ready — and  the  river  did  not  look  inviting — full  of  drift  trees, 
swirls  and  mighty  eddies.  In  the  plain  room  in  which  we  sat  there 
was  a  volume  of  Spurgcon''s  Sermons  and  of  Baxter's  works.  "  This 
rain  will  do  good  to  the  corn,"  said  the  overseer.  "  The  niggers  has 
had  sceerce  nothin'  to  do  leetly,  as  they  'eve  clearied  out  the  fields 
pretty  well."  We  drove  down  to  a  poor  shed  on  the  levee  called  the 
ferry-house,  attended  by  one  stout  young  slave  who  was  to  row  me 
over.  Two  flut-bottomed  skitfs  lay  on  the  bank.  The  negro  groped 
under  the  shed  and  pulled  out  a  piece  of  wood  like  a  lai-ge  spatula, 
some  four  feet  long,  and  a  small  round  pole  a  little  longer.  "  What 
are  those  ?"  quoth  I,  "  Dem's  oars,  Massa,"  was  my  sable  ferryman's 
brisk  reply.  "  I'm  very  sure  they  are  not;  if  they  w^ere  spliced  they 
might  make  an  oar  between  them."  "  Golly,  and  dat's  the  trute, 
Massa."  "  There,  go  and  get  oars,  will  you  ?"  While  he  was  hunting 
about  we  entered  the  shed  for  shelter  from  the  rain.  We  found  "  a 
solitary  woman  sitting"  smoking  a  pipe  by  the  ashes  on  the  hearth, 
blear-eyed,  low-browed,  and  morose — young  as  she  was.  She  never 
said  a  word  nor  moved  as  we  came  in,  sat  and  smoked,  and  looked 
through  her  gummy  eyes  at  chickens  about  the  size  of  sparrows,  and 
at  a  cat  not  larger  than  a  rat  which  ran  about  on  the  dirty  floor.  A 
little  girl  some  four  years  of  age,  not  over-dressed — indeed,  half-naked, 
"  not  to  put  too  fine  a  point  upon  it" — crawled  out  from  under  the 
bed,  where  she  had  hid  on  our  approach.  As  she  seemed  incapable  of 
appreciating  the  use  of  a  small  piece  of  silver  presented  to  her — having 
no  precise  ideas  on  coinage  or  toffy — her  parent  took  the  obolus  in 
charge  with  unmistakable  decision;  but  still  she  would  not  stir  a 
step  to  aid  our  Charon,  who  now  insisted  on  the  "key  ov  de  oar- 
house."  The  little  thing  sidled  off"  and  Imnted  it  out  from  the  top  of 
the  bedstead,  and  I  was  not  sorry  to  quit  the  company  of  the  silent 
woman  in  black.  Charon  pushed  his  skiff  into  the  water — there  was  a 
good  deal  of  rain  it — in  shape  a  snuffer-dish,  some  ten  feet  long  and  a 
foot  deep.  I  got  in,  and  the  conscious  waters  immediately  began  vigor- 
ously spurting  through  the  cotton  wadding  wherewith  the  craft  was 


102  PICTURES    OP    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

caulked.  Had  we  gone  ont  into  tlie  stream  we  should  have  had  a 
swim  for  it,  and  they  do  say  that  the  Mississippi  is  the  most  danger- 
ous river  for  that  healthful  exercise  in  the  known  world.  "  Why  ! 
deuce  take  you"  (I  said,  at  least  that,  in  my  wrath),  "  don't  you  see 
the  boat  is  leaky  ?"  "  See  it  now  for  true,  Massa.  Nobody  able  to 
tell  dat  till  Massa  get  in,  tho'."  Another  skiff  proved  to  be  staunch. 
I  bade  good-bye  to  my  friend,  and  sat  down  in  my  boat,  which  was 
soon  forced  up  along  the  stream  close  to  the  bank,  in  order  to  get  a 
good  start  across  to  the  other  side.  The  view,  from  my  lonely  posi- 
tion, was  curious,  but  not  at  ah  picturesque.  The  landscape  had  dis- 
appeared at  once.  The  world  was  bounded  on  both  sides  by  a  high 
bank,  and  was  constituted  by  a  broad  river — just  as  if  one  were  sailing 
down  an  open  sewer  of  enormous  length  and  breadth.  Above  the  bank 
rose,  however,  the  tops  of  tall  trees  and  the  chimneys  of  sugar-houses. 
A  row  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour  brought  us  to  the  levee  on  the  other 
side.  I  ascended  the  bank,  and  directly  in  front  of  me,  across  the 
road,  appeared  a  carriage  gateway  and  wickets  of  wood,  painted  white 
in  a  line  of  park  palings  of  the  same  material,  which  extended  up  aud 
down  the  road  far  as  the  eye  could  follow,  and  guarded  wide-spread 
fields  of  maize  and  sugar-cane.  An  avenue  of  trees,  with  branches 
close  set,  drooping  and  overarching  a  walk  paved  with  red  brick,  led 
to  the  house,  the  porch  of  which  was  just  visible  at  the  extremity  of 
the  lawn,  with  clustering  flowers,  rose,  jessamine  and  creepers  clinging 
to  the  pillars  supporting  the  verandah.  The  proprietor,  who  had 
espied  my  approach,  issued  forth  with  a  section  of  sable  attendants  in 
his  rear,  and  gave  me  a  hearty  welcome.  The  house  was  larger  and 
better  than  the  residences  even  of  the  richest  planters,  though  it  was 
in  need  of  some  little  repair,  and  had  been  built  perhaps  fifty  years 
ago,  in  the  old  Irish  fashion,  and  who  built  well,  ate  well,  drank  well, 
and,  finally,  paid  very  well.  The  view  from  the  belvedere  was  one  of 
the  most  striking  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  If  an  English  agriculturist 
could  see  six  thousand  acres  of  the  finest  land  in  one  field,  unbroken 
by  hedge  or  boundary,  and  covered  with  the  most  magnificent  crops  of 
tasselling  Indian  corn  and  sprouting  sugar-cane,  as  level  as  a  billiard- 
table,  he  would  surely  doubt  his  senses.  But  here  is  literally  such  a 
sight.  Six  thousand  acres,  better  tilled  than  the  finest  patch  in  all  the 
Lothians,  green  as  Meath  pastures,  which  can  be  cultivated  for  a  hun- 
dred years  to  come  without  requiring  manure,  of  depth  practically  un- 
limited, and  yielding  an  average  profit  on  what  is  sold  off  it  of  at  least 
£20  an  acre  at  the  old  prices  and  usual  yield  of  sugar.  Rising  up  in 
the  midst  of  the  verdure  are  the  white  lines  of  the  negro  cottages  and 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  103 

the  plantation  offices  and  sugar-houses,  which  look  like  large  public 
edifices  in  the  distance.  And  who  is  the  lord  of  all  this  fair  domain  ? 
The  proprietor  of  Houmas  and  Orange-grove  is  a  man,  a  self-made  one, 
who  has  attained  his  apogee  on  the  bright  side  of  half  a  century,  after 
twenty-five  years  of  successful  business. 

When  my  eyes  "  uncurtained  the  early  morning,"  I  might  have 
imagined  myself  in  the  magic  garden  of  Cherry  and  Fair  Star,  so  in- 
cessant and  multifarious  were  the  carols  of  the  birds,  which  were  the 
only  happy  colored  people  I  saw  in  my  Southern  tour,  notwithstanding 
the  assurances  of  the  many  ingenious  and  candid  gentlemen  who  at- 
tempted to  prove  to  me  that  the  palm  of  terrestrial  felicity  must  be 
awarded  to  their  negroes.  As  I  stepped  through  my  window  upon  the 
verandah,  a  sharp  chirp  called  my  attention  to  a  mocking-bird  perched 
upon  a  rose-bush  beneath,  whom  my  presence  seemed  to  annoy  to  such 
a  degree  that  I  retreated  behind  my  curtain,  whence  I  observed  her 
fiight  to  a  nest,  cunningly  hid  in  a  creeping-rose  trailed  around  a  neigh- 
boring column  of  the  house,  where  she  imparted  a  breakfast  of  spiders 
and  grasshoppers  to  her  gaping  and  clamorous  offspring.  While  I  was 
admiring  the  motherly  grace  of  this  melodious  fly-catcher,  a  servant 
brought  coffee,  and  announced  that  the  horses  were  ready,  and  that  I 
might  have  a  three  hours'  ride  before  breakfast.  At  Houmas  les  jours 
se  suivent  et  se  ressemblent^  and  an  epitome  of  the  first  will  serve  as  a 
type  for  all,  with  the  exception  of  such  variations  in  the  kitchen  and 
produce  as  the  ingenuity  and  exhaustless  hospitality  of  my  host  were 
never  tired  of  framing. 

If  I  regretted  the  absence  of  our  English  agriculturist  when  I  beheld 
the  6,000  acres  of  cane  and  1,600  of  maize  unfolded  from  the  belve- 
dere the  day  previous,  I  longed  for  his  presence  still  more  when  I  saw 
those  evidences  of  luxuriant  fertility  attained  without  the  aid  of  phos- 
phates or  guano.  The  rich  Mississippi  bottoms  need  no  manure ;  a 
rotation  of  maize  with  cane  affords  them  the  necessary  recuperative 
action.  The  cane  of  last  year's  plant  is  left  in  stubble,  and  renews  its 
growth  this  spring  under  the  title  of  ratoons.  When  the  maize  is  in 
tassel,  cow-peas  are  dropped  between  the  rows ;  and  when  the  lordly 
stalk,  of  which  I  measured  many  twelve  and  even  fifteen  feet  in  height, 
bearing  three  and  sometimes  four  ears,  is  topped  to  admit  the  ripeninir 
sun,  the  pea-vine  twines  itself  around  the  trunk,  with  a  profusion  of 
leaf  and  tendril  that  supplies  the  planter  with  the  most  desirable  fodder 
for  his  mules  in  "  rolling-time,"  which  is  their  season  of  trial.  Besides 
this,  the  corn-blades  are  culled  and  cured.  These  are  the  best  meals 
of  the  Southern  race-horse,  and  constitute  nutritious  hay  without  dust. 


104  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHEKN   LIFE. 

The  cow-pea  is  said  to  strengthen  the  system  of  the  earth  for  the  di- 
gestion of  a  new  crop  of  sugar-cane.  A  sufficient  quantity  of  the  cane 
of  last  season  is  reserved  from  the  mill,  and  laid  in  pits,  where  the  ends 
of  the  stalk  are  carefully  closed  with  earth  until  spring.  After  the 
ground  has  been  plowed  into  ridges,  these  canes  are  laid  in  the  endless 
tumuli,  and  not  long  after  their  interment,  a  fresh  sprout  springs  at 
each  joint  of  these  interminable  flutes. 

As  we  ride  through  the  wagon  roads,  of  which  there  are  not  less 
than  thirty  miles  in  this  confederation  of  four  plantations,  held  together 
by  the  purse  and  the  life  of  our  host — the  unwavering  exactitude  of 
th«  rows  of  cane,  which  run  without  deviation  at  right  angles  with  the 
river  down  to  the  cane-brake,  two  miles  off,  proves  that  the  negro  would 
be  a  formidable  rival  in  a  ploughing  match.  The  cane  has  been  "  laid 
by,"  that  is,  it  requires  no  more  labor,  and  will  soon  "  lap,"  or  close  up, 
though  the  rows  are  seven  feet  apart.  It  feathers  like  a  palm-top ;  a 
stalk  which  was  cut  measured  six  feet,  although  from  the  ridges  it  was 
but  waist  high.  On  dissecting  it  near  the  root,  we  find  five  nascent 
joints  not  a  quarter  of  an  inch  apart.  In  a  few  weeks  more,  the»e  will 
shoot  up  like  a  spy-glass  pulled  out  to  its  focus. 

There  are  four  lordly  sugar-houses,  as  the  grinding-mills  and  boiling 
and  crystalizing  buildings  are  called,  and  near  each  is  to  be  found  the 
negro  village,  or  "  quarter,"  of  that  section  of  the  plantation.  A  wide 
avenue,  generally  lined  with  trees,  runs  through  these  hamlets,  which 
consist  of  twenty  or  thirty  white  cottages,  single  storied,  and  divided 
into  four  rooms.  They  are  whitewashed,  and  at  no  great  distance 
might  be  mistaken  for  New-England  villages,  with  a  town-hall  which 
often  serves  in  the  latter  for  a  "  meeting-house,"  with  occasionally  a 
row  of  stores  on  the  ground  floor. 

The  people,  or  "  hands,"  are  in  the  field,  and  the  only  inhabitants  of 
the  settlements  are  scores  of  "  picaninnies,"  who  seem  a  jolly  congre- 
gation, under  the  care  of  crones,  who  here,  as  in  an  Indian  village,  act 
as  nurses  of  the  rising  generation,  destined  from  their  births  to  the 
limits  of  a  social  Procrustean  bed.  The  increase  of  property  on  the 
estate  is  about  five  per  cent,  per  annum  by  the  birth  of  children. 

We  ride  an  hour  before  coming  upon  any  "  hands  "  at  work  in  the 
fields.  There  is  an  air  of  fertile  desolation  that  prevails  in  no  other 
cultivated  land.  The  regularity  of  the  cane,  its  gardenlike  freedom 
from  grass  or  weeds,  and  the  ad  unguem  finish  and  evenness  of  the  fur- 
rows, would  seem  the  work  of  nocturnal  fiiiries,  did  we  not  realize  the 
system  of  "gang  labor"  exemplified  in  a  field  we  at  length  reach,  where 
some  thirty  men  and  women  were  giving  with  the  hoe  the  last  polish 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  105 

to  the  earth  around  the  cane,  which  would  not  be  molested  again  until 
gathered  for  the  autumnal  banquet  of  the  rolling-mills. 

Small  drains  and  larger  ditches  occur  at  almost  every  step.  All  these 
flow  into  a  canal,  some  fifteen  feet  wide,  which  runs  between  the  plan- 
tation and  the  uncleared  forest,  and  carries  off  the  water  to  a  "  bayou  " 
still  more  remote.  There  are  twenty  miles  of  deep  ditching  before  the 
plantation,  exclusive  of  the  canal;  and  as  this  is  the  contract  work  of 
"  Irish  navvies,"  the  sigh  with  which  our  host  alluded  to  this  heavy 
item  in  plantation  expenses  was  expressive.  The  work  is  too  severe  for 
African  thews,  and  experience  has  shown  it  a  bad  economy  to  overtask 
the  slave.  The  sugar-planter  lives  in  apprehension  of  four  enemies. 
These  are,  the  river  when  rising,  drought,  too  much  or  unseasonable 
rain,  and  frost.  The  last  calls  into  play  all  his  energies,  and  tasks  his 
utmost  composure.  In  Louisiana,  the  cane  never  ripens  as  it  does  in 
Cuba,  and  they  begin  to  grind  as  early  in  October  as  the  amount  of 
juices  will  permit.  The  question  of  a  crop  is  one  of  early  or  late  frost. 
With  two  months'  exemption  they  rely,  in  a  fair  season,  upon  a  hogs- 
head of  1,200  pounds  to  the  acre ;  and  if  they  can  run  their  mills  until 
January,  the  increase  is  more  than  proportionate,  each  of  its  latter  days 
in  the  earth  adding  saccharine  virtue  to  the  cane. 

At  an  average  of  a  hogshead  to  the  acre,  each  working  hand  is  good 
for  seven  hogsheads  a  year,  which,  at  last  years'  prices — eight  cents  per 
pound  for  ordinary  qualities — would  be  a  yield  of  £140  per  annum  for 
each  full  geld  hand. 

Two  hogsheads  to  the  acre  are  not  unfrequently,  and  even  three  have 
been,  produced  upon  rich  lands  in  a  good  season.  Estimating  the 
sugar  at  seventy  per  cent.,  and  the  refuse,  bagasse,  at  thirty  per  cent., 
the  latter  figure  would  give  us  two  tons  and  a  quarter  to  the  acre,  which 
opens  one's  eyes  to  the  tireless  activity  of  nature  in  this  semi-tropical 
region. 

From  the  records  of  Houmas,  I  find  that  in  1857,  the  year  of  its  pur- 
chase at  about  £300,000,  it  yielded  a  gross  of  $304,000,  say  £63,000, 
upon  the  investment. 

In  the  rear  of  this  great  plantation  there  are  18,000  additional  acres 
of  cane-brake  which  are  being  slowly  reclaimed,  like  the  fields  now  re- 
joicing in  crops,  as  fast  as  the  furnace  of  the  sugar-house  calls  for  fuel. 
Were  it  desirable  to  accelerate  the  preparation  of  this  reserve  for  plant- 
ing, it  might  be  put  in  tolerable  order  in  three  years  at  a  cost  of  £15 
per  acre.  We  extended  our  ride  into  this  jungle,  on  the  borders  of 
which,  in  the  unfinished  clearing,  I  saw  plantations  of  "  negro  corn," 
the  sable  cultivators  of  which  seem  to  have  disregarded  the  symmetry 
5* 


106  PICTUEES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

practiced  in  the  fields  of  their  master,  who  allows  them  from  Saturda}^ 
noon  until  Monday's  cockcrow  for  the  care  of  their  private  interests, 
and,  in  addition  to  this,  whatever  hours  in  the  week  they  can  econo- 
mize by  the  brisk  fulfilment  of  their  allotted  tasks.  Some  of  these 
patches  are  sown  broadcast,  and  the  corn  has  sprung  up  like  Zouave 
tirailleurs  in  their  most  fantastic  vagaries,  rather  than  like  the  steady 
regimental  drill  of  the  cane  and  maize  we  have  been  traversing. 

Corn,  chickens,  and  eggs,  are,  from  time  immemorial,  the  perquisites 
of  the  negro,  who  has  the  monopoly  of  the  two  last-named  articles  in 
all  well-ordered  Louisiana  plantations.  Indeed,  the  white  man  cannot 
compete  with  them  in  raising  poultry,  and  our  host  was  evidently  de- 
lighted when  one  of  his  negroes,  who  had  brought  a  dozen  Muscovy 
ducks  to  the  mansion,  refused  to  sell  them  to  him  except  for  cash. 
"  Bint,  Louis,  won't  you  trust  me  ?  Am  I  not  good  for  three  dollars  ?'' 
"  G^od  enough,  raassa ;  but  dis  nigger  want  de  money  to  buy  flour  and 
coffee  for  him  young  family.  Folks  at  Donaldsonville  will  trust  raassa 
—won't  trust  nigger."  The  money  was  paid,  and,  as  the  negro  left  us, 
his  master  observed  with  a  sly,  humorous  twinkle :  "  That  fellow  sold 
forty  dollars'  worth  of  corn  last  year,  and  all  of  them  feed  their  chickens 
with  my  corn,  and  sell  their  own." 

There  are  three  overseers  at  Houmas,  one  of  whom  superintends  the 
whole  plantation,  and  likewise  looks  after  another  estate  of  8,000  acres, 
some  twelve  miles  down  the  river,  which  our  host  added  to  his  posses- 
sions two  years  since,  at  a  cost  of  £150,000.     In  any  part  of  the  world, 

and  in  any  calling,  Mr.  S ■  (I  do  not  know  if  he  would  like  to  see 

his  name  in  print)  would  be  considered  an  able  man.  Mr.  S.  attends 
to  most  of  the  practice  requiring  immediate  attention.  We  visited  one 
of  these  hospitals,  and  found  half-a-dozen  patients  ill  of  fever,  rheuma- 
tism and  indigestion,  and  apparently  well  cared  for  by  a  couple  of  stout 
nurses.  The  truckle  bedsteads  were  garnished  with  mosquito  bars,  and 
I  was  told  that  the  hospital  is  a  favorite  resort,  which  its  inmates  leave 
with  reluctance.  The  pharmaceutical  department  was  largely  supplied 
with  a  variety  of  medicines,  quinine  and  preparations  of  sulphites  of 
iron.      "  Poor  drugs,"  said  Mr.  S.,  "  are  a  poor  economy." 

I  have  mentioned  engineering  as  one  of  the  requisites  of  a  competent 
overseer.  To  explain  this  I  must  observe  that  Houmas  is  esteemed 
very  high  land,  and  that  in  its  cultivated  breadth  there  is  only  a  fall  of 
eight  feet  to  carry  off  its  surplus  matter.  In  the  plantation  of  Governor 
Manning,  Avhich  adjoins  it,  an  expensive  steam-draining  machine  is  em- 
ployed to  relieve  his  fields  of  this  incumbrance,  which  is  effected  by  the 
revolutions  of  a  fan-wheel  some  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  which  laps  up 


nCTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  107 

the  water  from  a  narrow  trough  into  which  all  the  drainage  flows,  and 
tosses  it  into  an  adjoining  bayou. 

On  Governor  Manning's  plantation  we  saw  the  process  of  clearing 
the  primitive  forest,  of  which  150  acres  were  sown  in  corn  and  cotton 
beneath  the  tall  girdled  trees  that  awaited  the  axe,  while  an  equal 
breadth  on  the  other  side  of  a  broad  and  deep  canal  was  reluctantly 
yielding  its  tough  and  fibrous  soil,  from  which  the  jungle  had  just  been 
removed,  t*o  the  ploughs  of  some  fifty  negroes,  drawn  by  two  mules 
each.  Another  season  of  lustration  by  maize  or  cotton,  and  the  rank 
soil  will  be  ready  for  the  cane. 

The  cultivation  of  sugar  diflfers  from  that  of  cotton  in  requiring  a 
much  larger  outlay  of  capital.  There  is  little  required  for  the  latter 
besides  negroes  and  land,  which  may  be  bought  on  credit,  and  a  year's 
clothing  and  provisions.  There  is  a  gambling  spice  in  the  chances  of 
a  season  which  may  bring  wealth  or  ruin — a  bale  to  the  a'^jre,  vrhich 
may  produce  'Id.  or  only  5d.  per  lb.  In  a  fair  year  the  cotton  planter 
reckons  upon  ten  or  twelve  bales  to  the  hand,  in  which  case  the  annual 
yield  of  a  negro  varies  from  £90  to  £120.  His  enemies  are  drought, 
excessive  rains,  the  ball-worm,  and  the  army-worm ;  his  best  friend  "  a 
long  picking  season." 

There  is  more  steadiness  in  the  price  of  sugar,  and  a  gi'eater  cer- 
tainty of  an  average  crop.  But  the  cost  of  a  sugar-house,  with  its  mill, 
boilers,  vacuum  pans,  centrifugal  and  drying  apparatus,  cannot  be  less 
than  £10,000,  and  the  consumption  of  fuel,  thousands  of  cords  of  Avhich 
are  cut  up  by  the  "hands,"  is  enormous.  There  were  cases  of  large 
fortunes  earned  by  planting  sugar  with  small  beginnings,  but  these  had 
chifly  occurred  among  early  settlers,  who  had  obtained  their  hands  for 
a  song.  A  Creole,  who  recently  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-five,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  who  began  with  only  a  few  thousand  dollars,  had  amassed 
more  than  $1,000,000  in  twenty-five  years,  and  two  of  his  sons — skil- 
ful planters — were  likely  to  die  each  richer  than  his  father. 

This  year  the  prospects  of  sugar  are  dreary  enough,  at  least  while 
the  civil  war  lasts,  and  my  host,  with  a  certainty  of  6,500  hogsheads 
upon  his  various  plantations,  has  none  of  a  market.  In  this  respect 
cotton  has  the  advantage  of  keeping  longer  than  sugar.  At  last  year's 
prices,  and  with  the  United  States  protective  tariff  of  20  per  cent,  to 
shield  him  from  foreign  competition,  his  crop  would  have  yielded  him 
over  £100,000.  But  all  the  sweet  teeth  of  the  Confederate  States 
army  can  hardly  "  make  a  hole"  in  the  450,000  hogsheads  which  this 
year  is  expected  to  yield  in  Louisiana  and  Texas.  Under  the  new 
tariff  of  the  seceding  states,  the  loss  of  protection  to  Louisiana  alone 


108  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHEEN   LIFE. 

may  be  stated,  within  bounds,  at  $8,000,000  per  annum — which  is 
making  the  planters  pay  pretty  dear  for  their  secession  whistle. 

When  I  arrived  at  Houmas  there  was  the  greatest  anxiety  for  rain, 
and  over  the  vast  level  plateau  every  cloud  was  scanned  with  avidity. 
Now,  a  shower  seemed  bearing  right  down  upon  us,  when  it  would 
break,  like  a  flying  soap-bubble,  and  scatter  its  treasures  short  of  the 
parched  fields  in  which  we  felt  interested.  The  wind  shifted,  and  hopes 
were  raised  that  the  next  thunder-cloud  would  prove  less  illusory. 
But,  no  !  "  Kenner'  has  got  it  all.  On  the  fifth  day,  however,  the 
hearts  of  all  the  planters  and  their  parched  fields  were  gladdened  by 
half  a  day  of  general  and  generous  rain,  beneath  which  our  host's  cane 
fairly  reeled  and  revelled.  It  was  new  safe  for  the  season,  and  so  was 
the  corn.  But  "  one  man's  nieat  is  another's  poison,"'  and  we  heard 
more  than  one  *' Jeremiad"  from  those  whose  fields  had  not  been 
placed  in  the  condition  which  enabled  those  of  our  friend  to  carry  off 
a  potation  of  twelve  hours  of  tropical  rain  with  the  ease  of  an  alderman 
©r  lord  chancellor  made  happier  or  wiser  by  his  three  bottles  of  port. 

What  is  termed  hacienda  in  Cuba,  rancho  in  Mexico,  and  "  planta- 
tion" elsewhere,  is  styled  "habitation"  by  the  Creoles  of  Louisiana, 
whose  ancestors  began  more  than  a  century  ago  to  reclaim  its  jungles. 

At  last  '■'' venit  summa  dies  et  ineluctahile  iempus.^^  I  had  seen  as 
much  as  might  be  of  the  best  phase  of  the  great  institution — less  than 
I  could  desire  of  a  most  exemplary,  kind-hearted,  clear-headed,  honest 
man.  In  the  calm  of  a  glorious  summer  evening,  arrayed  in  all  the 
splendor  of  scenery  that  belongs  to  dreams  in  Cloudland,  where  moun- 
tains of  snow,  peopled  by  "  gorgons  and  hydras  and  chimseras  dire," 
rise  from  seas  of  fire  that  bear  black  barks  freighted  with  thunder  be- 
fore the  breeze  of  battle,  we  crossed  the  Father  of  Waters,  waving  an 
adieu  to  the  good  friend  who  stood  on  the  shore,  and  turning  ever  back 
to  the  home  we  had  left  behind  us.  It  was  dark  when  the  boat  reached 
Donaldsonville  on  the  opposite  "  coast."  I  should  not  be  surprised  to 
hear  that  the  founder  of  this  remarkable  city,  which  once  contained  the 
archives  of  the  state,  now  transferred  to  Baton  Rouge,  w^as  a  North 
Briton.  There  is  a  simplicity  and  economy  in  the  plan  of  the  place  not 
unfavorable  to  that  view,  but  the  motives  which  induced  Donaldson  to 
found  his  Rome  on  the  west  of  Bayou  La  Fourchc  from  Mississippi 
must  be  a  secret  to  all  time.  Much  must  the  worthy  Scot  have  been 
perplexed  by  his  neighbors,  a  long-reaching  colony  of  Spanish  Creoles 
who  toil  not  and  spin  nothing  but  fishing-nets,  and  who  live  better  than 
Solomon,  and  are  probably  as  well  dressed,  minus  the  barbaric  pearl 
and  gold  of  the  Hebrew  potentate.     Take  the   odd,  little,   retiring, 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  109 

modest  houses  which  grow  in  the  hollows  of  Scarborough,  add  to  them 
the  least  imposing  mansions  in  the  natural  town  of  Folkestone,  cast 
them  broadsown  over  the  surface  of  the  Essex  marshes,  plant  a  few 
trees  in  front  of  them,  then  open  a  few  "cafe  billards"  of  the  camp  sort 
along  the  main  street,  and  you  have  done  a  very  good  Donaldsonville. 
A  policeman  welcomes  us  on  the  landing  and  does  the  honors  of  the 
market,  which  has  a  beggarly  account  of  empty  benches,  a  Texan  bull 
done  into  beef,  and  a  coffee-shop.  The  policeman  is  a  tall,  lean,  west 
countryman ;  his  story  is  simple,  and  he  has  it  to  tell.  He  was  one  of 
Dan  Rice's  company — a  travelling  Astley.  He  came  to  Donaldsonville, 
saw,  and  was  conquered  by  one  of  the  Spanish  beauties,  married  her, 
became  tavern-keeper,  failed,  learned  French,  and  was  now  constable 
of  the  parish.  There  was,  however,  a  weight  on  his  mind.  He  had 
studied  the  matter  profoundly,  but  he  was  not  near  the  bottom.  How 
did  the  friends,  relatives,  and  tribe  of  his  wife  live  ?  No  one  could  say. 
They  reared  chickens,  and  they  caught  fish;  when  there  was  a  pressure 
on  the  planters,  they  turned  out  to  work  for  6s.  6c?.  a-day,  but  those 
were  rare  occasions.  The  policeman  had  become  quite  gray  with  ex- 
cogitating the  matter,  and  he  had  "  nary  notion  of  how  they  did  it." 
Donaldsonville  has  done  one  fine  thing.  It  has  furnished  two  com- 
panies of  soldiers — all  Irishmen — to  the  wars,  and  a  third  is  in  the 
course  of  formation.  Not  much  hedging,  ditching,  or  hard  work  these 
times  for  Paddy  !  The  blacksmith,  a  huge  tower  of  muscle,  claims  ex- 
emption on  the  ground  that  "  the  divil  a  bit  of  him  comes  from  Oire- 
land ;  he  nivir  bird  af  it,  barrin'  from  the  buks  he  rid,"  and  is  doing 
his  best  to  remain  behind,  but  popular  opinion  is  against  him.  As  the 
steamer  would  not  be  up  till  toward  dawn,  or  later,  it  was  a  relief  to 
saunter  through  Donaldsonville  to  see  society,  which  consisted  of  sev- 
eral gentlemen  and  various  Jews  playing  games  unknown  to  Hoyle,  in 
oaken  bar-rooms  flanked  by  billiard  tables.  My  good  friend  the  doctor 
whom  I  had  met  at  Houmas,  who  had  crossed  the  river  to  see  patients 
suffering  from  an  attack  of  eucre,  took  us  round  to  a  little  club,  where 
I  was  introduced  to  a  number  of  gentlemen,  who  expressed  great  pleas- 
ure at  seeing  me,  shook  hands  violently,  and  walked  away ;  and  finally 
we  melted  off  into  a  cloud  of  mosquitos  by  the  river  bank,  in  a  box 
prepared  for  them,  which  was  called  a  bedroom.  These  rooms  were 
built  in  wood  on  the  stage  close  by  the  river.  "  Why  can't  I  have  one 
of  those  rooms  ?"  asked  I,  pointing  to  a  large  mosquito  box.  "  It  is 
engaged  by  ladies."  How  do  you  know  ?" — "  Parceque  elles  out 
envoye  leurs  hutinr  It  was  delicious  to  meet  the  French  "  plunder" 
for  baggage — an  old  phrase  so  nicely  rendered  in  the  mouth  of  the 


110  PICTURES    OP    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

Mississippi  boatman.  Having  passed  a  niglit  of  extreme  discomfiture 
with  the  winged  demons  of  the  box,  I  was  aroused  toward  dawn  by 
the  booming  of  the  steam  drum  of  the  boat,  dipped  my  head  in  water 
among  drowned  mosquitos,  and  went  forth  upon  the  landing.  The 
policeman  had  just  arrived.  His  eagle  eye  lighted  upon  a  large  flat, 
on  the  stern  of  which  was  inscribed,  "  Pork,  corn,  butter,  beef,"  etc. 
Several  spry  citizens  were  also  on  the  platform.  After  salutations  and 
compliments,  policeman  speaks — "  When  did  she  come  in  ?"  (meaning 
flat.)  First  citizen — "In  the  night,  I  guess."  Second  citizen — 
"  There's  a  lot  of  whiskey  aboord,  too."  Policeman  (with  pleased  sur- 
prise)— "You  never  mean  it  ?"  First  citizen — "Yes,  sir;  one  hundred 
and  twenty  gallons  !"  Policeman  (inspired  by  a  bright  aspiration  of 
patriotism) — "It's  a  west  country  boat ;  \f\\y  dori't  the  citizens  seize 
it?  And  whiskey  rising  from  l7c.  to  35c.  a  gallon  !"  Citizens  mur- 
mur approval,  and  I  feel  the  whiskey  part  of  the  cargo  is  not  safe. 
"Yes,  sir,"  says  citizen  three,  "they  seize  all  our  property  at  Cairey 
(Cairo),  and  I'm  for  making  an  example  of  this  cargo."  Further  reasons 
for  the  seizure  of  the  articles  were  adduced,  and  it  is  probable  they 
were  as  strong  as  the  whiskey,  which  has,  no  doubt,  been  drunk  long 
ago  on  the  very  purest  principles.  In  course  of  conversation  with  the 
committee  of  taste  which  had  assembled,  it  was  revealed  to  me  that 
there  was  a  strict  watch  kept  over  those  boats  which  are  freighted  with 
whiskey  forbidden  to  the  slaves,  and  with  principles,  when  they  come 
from  the  west  country,  equally  objectionable.  "  Did  you  hear,  sir, 
of  the  chap  over  at  Duncan  Renmer's  as  was  caught  the  other  day  ?" 
"  No,  sir,  what  was  it  ?"  "  Well,  sir,  he  was  a  man  that  came  here  and 
went  over  among  the  niggers  at  Renmer's  to  buy  their  chickens  from 
them.  He  was  took  up,  and  they  found  he'd  a  lot  of  money  about 
him."  "  Well,  of  course,  he  had  money  to  buy  the  chickens."  "Yes, 
sir,  but  it  looked  suspic-ious.  He  was  a  west  country  fellow,  tew,  and 
he  might  have  been  tamperin'  with  'em.  Lucky  for  him  he  was  not 
taken  in  the  arternoon."  "  W^hy  so  ?"  "  Because  if  the  citizens  had 
been  drunk  they'd  have  hung  him  on  the  spot."  The  Acadia  was  now 
alongside,  and  in  the  early  morning  Donaldsonville  receded  rapidly 
into  trees  and  clouds.  To  bed,  and  make  amends  for  mosquito  visits. 
On  awaking,  find  that  I  am  in  the  same  place  I  started  from  ;  at  least, 
the  river  looks  just  the  same.  It  is  diflicult  to  believe  that  we  have 
been  going  eleven  miles  an  hour  against  the  turbid  river,  which  is  of 
the  same  appearance  as  it  was  below — ^the  same  banks,  bends,  drift- 
wood and  trees. 

Beyond  the  levees  there  were  occasionally  large  clearings  and  plan- 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHEEN   LIFE.  Ill 

tations  of  corn  and  cane,  of  which  the  former  predominated.  The 
houses  of  the  planters  were  not  so  large  or  so  good  as  those  on  the 
lower  banks.  Large  timber  rafts,  navigated  by  a  couple  of  men,  who 
stood  in  the  shade  of  a  few  upright  boards,  were  encountered  at  long 
intervals.  The  river  was  otherwise  dead.  White  egrets  and  blue 
herons  rose  from  the  marshes  where  the  banks  had  been  bored  through 
by  crayfish,  or  crevasses  had  been  formed  by  the  waters.  The  fields 
were  not  much  more  lively,  but  at  every  landing  the  whites  who  came 
down  were  in  some  sort  of  uniform,  and  a  few  negroes  were  in  attend- 
ance to  take  in  or  deliver  goods.  There  were  two  blacks  on  board  in 
irons — captured  runaways — and  very  miserable  they  looked  at  the 
thought  of  being  restored  to  the  bosom  of  the  patriarchial  family  from 
which  they  had,  no  doubt,  so  prodigally  eloped.  I  fear  the  fatted  calf- 
skin would  not  be  applied  to  their  backs.  The  river  is  about  half  a 
mile  wide  here,  and  is  upwards  of  1,000  feet  deep.  The  planters' 
houses  in  groves  of  pecan  and  mangolias,  Avith  verandah  and  belvedere, 
became  more  frequent  as  the  steamer  approached  Baton  Rouge,  already 
visible  in  the  distance  over  a  high  bank  or  bluff  on  the  right  hand 
side. 

Before  noon  the  steamer  hauled  alongside  a  stationary  hulk,  which 
once  "  walked  the  waters"  by  the  aid  of  machinery,  but  which  was 
now  used  as  a  floatinof  hotel,  depot  and  storehouse — 315  feet  long,  and 
fully  thirty  feet  on  the  upper  deck  above  the  level  of  the  river.  Here 
were  my  quarters  till  the  boat  for  Natchez  should  arrive.  The  proprie- 
tor was  somewhat  excited  on  my  arrival,  because  one  of  his  servants 

was  away.     ''  Where  have  you  been,  you ?"     "Away  to  buy  do 

newspaper,  Massa."     "For  who,   you ?"     "  Me  buy 'em  for  no 

one,  Massa  ;  me  sell  'um  agin,  Massa."     "  See,  now,  you ,  if  ever 

you  goes  aboard  to  meddle  with  newspapers,  I'm but  I'll  kill  you, 

mind  that!"  Baton  Rouge  is  the  capital  of  the  State  of  Louisiana,  and 
the  State  House  is  a  quaint  and  very  new  example  of  bad  taste.  The 
Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum  near  it  is  in  a  much  better  style.  It  was  my 
intention  to  visit  the  State  Prison  and  Penitentiar}',  but  the  day  was 
too  hot,  and  the  distance  too  great,  and  so  I  dined  at  the  oddest  little 
Creole  restaurant,  with  the  funniest  old  hostess,  and  the  strangest  com- 
pany in  the  world.  On  returning  to  the  boat  hotel,  Mr.  Conrad,  one 
of  the  citizens  of  the  place,  and  Mr.  W.  Avery,  a  judge  of  the  court, 
were  good  enough  to  call  to  invite  me  to  visit  them,  but  I  was  obliged 
to  decline.  The  old  gentlemen  were  both  members  of  the  home  guard, 
and  drilled  assiduously  every  evening.  Of  th©  1,300  voters  at  Baton 
Rouge,  more  than  V50  are  already  off  to  the  wars,  and  another  company 


112  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

is  beino-  formed  to  follow  them.      Mr.  Conrad  has  three  sons  in  the 

o 

field  already.  The  waiter  who  served  out  drinks  in  the  bar  wore  a 
uniform,  and  his  musket  lay  in  the  corner  among  the  brandy  bottles. 
At  night  a  patriotic  meeting  of  citizen  soldiery  took  place  in  the  bow, 
in  which  song  and  whiskey  had  much  to  do,  so  that  sleep  was  difficult ; 
but  at  seven  o'clock  on  Wednesday  morning  the  Mary  T.  came  along- 
side, and  soon  afterward  bore  me  on  to  Natchez,  through  scenery  which 
became  wilder  and  less  cultivated  as  she  got  upwards.  Of  the  1,500 
steamers  on  the  river  not  a  tithe  are  now  in  employment,  and  the 
owners  are  in  a  bad  way.  It  was  late  at  night  when  the  steamer 
arrived  at  Natchez,  and  next  morning  early  I  took  shelter  in  another 
engineless  steamer,  which  was  thought  to  be  a  hotel  by  its  owners.  Old 
negress  on  board,  however,  said,  "■  There  was  nothing  for  breakfast ;  go 
to  Curry's  on  shore."  Walk  up  hill  to  Curry's — a  bar-room,  a  waiter 
and  flies.  "  Can  I  have  any  breakfast  ?"  "  No,  sir-ree  ;  it's  over  half  an 
hour  ago."  "  Nothing  to  eat  at  all  ?"  "  No,  sir."  "  Can  I  get  some 
anywhere  else  ?"  "  I  guess  not."  It  had  been  my  belief  that  a  man 
with  money  in  his  pocket  could  not  starve  in  any  country  soi-disant 
civilized.  Exceptions  prove  rules,  but  they  are  disagreeable  things. 
I  chewed  the  cud  of  fsmcj  faute  de  mieux,  and  became  the  centre  of 
attraction  to  citizens,  from  whose  conversation  I  learned  that  this  was 
"  Jeff.  Davis'  fast  day."  Observed  one,  "  It  quite  puts  me  in  mind  of 
Sunday ;  all  the  stores  closed."  Said  another,  "  We'll  soon  have  Sun- 
day every  day,  then,  for  I  'spect  it  won't  be  worth  while  for  most  shops 
to  keep  open  any  longer."  Natchez,  a  place  of  much  trade  and  cotton 
export  in  the  season,  is  now  as  dull — let  us  say  as  Harwich  without  a 
retratta.  But  it  is  ultra-Secessionist,  nil  obstante.  My  hunger  was  as- 
suaged by  a  friend  who  drove  me  up  to  his  comfortable  mansion  through 
a  country  not  unlike  the  wooded  parts  of  Sussex,  abounding  in  fine 
trees,  and  in  the  only  lawns  and  park-like  fields  I  have  yet  seen  in 
America.  In  the  evening,  after  dinner,  my  host  drove  me  over  to  visit 
a  small  encampment  under  a  wealthy  planter,  who  has  raised,  equipped 
and  armed  his  company  at  his  own  expense. 

We  were  obliged  to  get  out  at  a  narrow  lane  and  walk  toward  the 
encampment  on  foot ;  a  sentry  stopped  us,  and  we  observed  that  there 
was  a  semblance  of  military  method  in  the  camp.  The  captain  was 
walking  up  and  down  in  the  verandah  of  the  poor,  deserted  hut,  for 
which  he  had  abandoned  his  splendid  home.  A  book  of  tactics  (Har- 
dee's)— which  is,  in  part,  a  translation  of  the  French  manual — lay  on 
the  table.  Our  friend  was  full  of  fight,  and  said  he  would  give  all  he 
had  in  the  world  to  the  cause.     But  the  day  before,  and  a  party  of 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIEE.  113 

horse,  composed  of  sixty  gentlemen  in  the  district,  worth  from  £20,000 
to  £50,000  each,  had  started  for  the  war  in  Virginia.  Every  thing  to 
be  seen  or  heard  testifies  to  the  great  zeal  and  resolution  with  which 
the  South  have  entered  upon  the  quarrel.  But  they  hold  the  power 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  loyalty  of  the  North  to  the  Union  at  far 
too  cheap  a  rate.  Next  day  was  passed  in  a  delightful  drive  through 
cotton  fields,  Indian  corn,  and  undulating  woodlands,  amid  which  were 
some  charming  residences.  I  crossed  the  river  at  Natchez,  and  saw 
one  fine  plantation,  in  which  the  corn,  however,  was  by  no  means  so 
fine  as  I  have  often  seen.  The  cotton  looks  well,  and  some  had  already 
burst  into  flower — bloom,  as  it  is  called — which  had  turned  to  a  fla- 
grant pink,  and  seemed  saucily  conscious  that  its  boll  would  play  an 
important  part  in  the  world.  In  this  part  of  Mississippi  the  secessionist 
feeling  was  not  so  overpowering  at  first  as  it  has  been  since  the  majority 
declared  itself,  but  the  expression  of  feeling  is  now  all  one  way.  The 
rage  of  Southern  sentiment  is  to  me  inexplicable,  making  every  allow- 
ance for  Southern  exaggeration.  It  is  sudden,  hot,  and  apparently  as 
causeless  as  summer  lightning.  From  every  place  I  touched  at  along 
the  Mississppi,  a  large  portion  of  the  population  has  gone  forth  to 
fight,  or  is  preparing  to  do  so.  The  whispers  which  rise  through  the 
storm  are  few  and  feeble.  Some  there  are  who  sigh  for  the  peace  and 
happiness  they  have  seen  in  England.  But  they  cannot  seek  those 
things  ;  they  must  look  after  their  property.  Each  man  maddens  his 
neighbor  by  desperate  resolves,  and  threats  and  vows.  Their  faith 
is  in  Jeff'erson  Davis'  strength,  and  in  the  necessities  and  weakness  of 
France  and  England.  The  inhabitants  of  the  tracts  which  lie  on  the 
banks  of  the  M  ississippi,  and  on  the  inland  regions  hereabout,  ought  to 
be,  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  a  people  almost  nomadic,  living  by 
the  chase,  and  by  a  sparse  agriculture,  in  the  freedom  which  tempted 
their  ancestors  to  leave  Europe.  But  the  Old  World  has  been  work- 
ing for  them.  All  its  trials  have  been  theirs ;  the  fruits  of  its  experi- 
ence, its  labors,  its  research,  its  discoveries,  are  theirs.  Steam  has  en- 
abled them  to  turn  their  rivers  into  highways,  to  open  primeval  forests 
to  the  light  of  day  and  to  man.  All  these,  however,  would  have 
availed  them  little  had  not  the  demands  of  manufacture  abroad,  and 
the  increasing  luxury  and  population  of  the  North  and  West  at  home, 
enabled  them  to  find  in  these  swamps  and  uplands  sources  of  wealth 
richer  and  more  certain  than  all  the  gold  mines  of  the  world.  But 
there  must  be  gnomes  to  work  those  mines.  Slavery  was  an  institu- 
tion ready  to  their  hands.  In  its  development  there  lay  every  material 
means  for  securing  the  prosperity  which  Manchester  opened  to  them, 


114  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

and  in  supplying  their  own  countrymen  with  sugar.  The  small,  strug- 
gling, deeply-mortgaged  proprietors  of  swamp  and  forest  set  their 
negroes  to  work  to  raise  levees,  to  cut  down  trees,  to  plant  and  sow. 
As  the  negro  became  valuable  by  his  produce,  the  Irish  emigrant  took 
his  place  in  the  severer  labors  of  the  plantation,  and  ditched  and  dug, 
and  cut  into  the  waste  land.  Cotton  at  ten  cents  a  pound  gave  a  nug- 
get in  every  boll.  Land  could  be  had  for  a  few  dollars  an  acre.  Ne- 
groes were  cheap  in  proportion.  Men  who  made  a  few  thousand 
dollars  invested  them  in  more  negroes,  and  more  land,  and  borrowed 
as  much  again  for  the  same  purpose.  They  waxed  fat  and  rich — there 
seemed  no  bounds  to  their  fortune.  But  threatening  voices  came  from 
the  North — the  echoes  of  the  sentiments  of  the  civilized  world  repent- 
ing of  its  evil  pierced  their  ears,  and  they  found  their  feet  were  of  clay, 
and  that  they  were  nodding  to  their  fall  in  the  midst  of  their  power. 
Ruin  inevitable  awaited  them  if  they  did  not  shut  out  these  sounds  and 
stop  the  fatal  utterances.  The  issue  is  to  them  one  of  life  and  death. 
Whoever  raises  it  hereafter,  if  it  be  not  decided  now,  must  expect  to 
meet  the  deadly  animosity  which  is  displayed  toward  the  North.  The 
success  of  the  South — if  it  can  succeed — must  lead  to  complications 
and  results  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  for  which  neither  it  nor  Europe 
is  now  prepared.  Of  one  thing  there  can  be  no  doubt — a  slave  state 
cannot  long  exist  without  a  slave  trade.  The  poor  whites  who  have  won 
the  fight  will  demand  their  share  of  the  spoils.  The  land  is  abundant, 
and  all  that  is  wanted  to  give  them  fortunes  is  a  supply  of  slaves. 
They  will  have  that  in  spite  of  their  masters,  unless  a  stronger  power 
prevents  the  accomplishment  of  their  wishes. 


Cairo,  III.,  June  20,  1861. 
My  last  letter  was  dated  from  Natchez,  but  it  will  probably  accompa- 
ny this  communication,  as  there  are  no  mails  now  between  the  North 
and  the  South,  or  vice  versa.  Tolerably  confident  in  my  calculations 
that  nothing  of  much  importance  could  take  place  in  the  field  till  some 
time  after  I  had  reached  my  post,  it  appeared  to  me  desirable  to  see  as 
much  of  the  South  as  I  could,  and  to  form  an  estimate  of  the  strength 
of  the  Confederation,  although  it  could  not  be  done  at  this  time  of  the 
year  without  considerable  inconvenience,  arising  from  the  heat,  which 
renders  it  almost  impossible  to  write  in  the  day,  and  from  the  mos- 
quitos,  which  come  out  when  the  sun  goes  down  and  raise  a  blister  at 
every  stroke  of  the  pen.  On  several  days  lately  the  thermometer  has 
risen  to  98  degrees,  on  one  day  to  105  degrees,  in  the  shade. 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  115 

On  Friday  evening,  June  14,  I  started  from  Xatchez  for  Yicksburgli, 
on  board  the  steamer  General  Quitman,  up  the  Mississippi.  These  long 
yellow  rivers  are  very  fine  for  patriots  to  talk  about,  for  poets  to  write 
about,  for  buftalo  fish  to  live  in,  and  for  steamers  to  navigate  when 
there  are  no  snags,  but  I  confess  the  father  of  waters  is  extremely  tire- 
some. Even  the  good  cheer  and  comfort  of  the  General  Quitman  could 
not  reconcile  me  to  the  eternal  beating  of  steam  drums,  blowing  of 
whistles,  bumping  at  landings,  and  the  general  oppression  of  levees, 
clearings  and  plantations,  which  marked  the  course  of  the  river,  and  I 
was  not  sorry  next  morning  when  Vicksburgh  came  in  sight,  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  giant  stream — a  city  on  a  hill,  not  very  large,  be-steepled, 
be-cupolaed,  large-hoteled.  Here  lives  a  man  who  has  been  the  pioneer 
of  hotels  in  the  West,  and  who  has  now  established  himself  in  a  big 
caravansery,  which  he  rules  in  a  curious  fashion.  M'Makin  has,  he  tells 
us,  been  rendered  famous  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell.  The  large  dining-room — 
a  stall  a  manger,  as  a  friend  of  mine  called  it — is  filled  with  small  tables, 
covered  with  party-colored  cloths.  At  the  end  is  a  long  deal  table, 
heavy  with  dishes  of  meat  and  vegetables,  presided  over  by  negresses 
and  gentlemen  of  uncertain  hue.  In  the  centre  of  the  room  stood  my 
host,  shouting  out  at  the  top  of  his  voice  the  names  of  the  joints, 
and  recommending  his  guests  to  particular  dishes,  very  much  as  the 
chronicler  tells  us  was  the  wont  of  the  taverners  in  old  London.  Many 
little  negroes  ran  about  in  attendance,  driven  hither  and  thither  by  the 
commands  of  their  white  Soulouque — white-teethed,  pensive-eyed,  but 
sad  as  memory.  "  Are  you  happy  here  ?"  asked  I  of  one  of  them  who 
stood  by  my  chair.  He  looked  uneasy  and  frightened.  "Why  don't  you 
answer  ?"  "  I'se  afeared  to  tell  dat  to  massa."  "  Why,  your  master  is 
kind  to  you?"  "Berry  good  man,  sir,  when  he  not  angry  wid  me!" 
And  the  little  fellow's  eyes  filled  with  tears  at  some  recollection  which 
pained  him.  I  asked  no  more.  Vicksburgh  is  secessionist.  There  were 
hundreds  of  soldiers  in  the  streets,  many  in  the  hotel,  and  my  host  said 
some  hundreds  of  Irish  had  gone  off"  to  the  wars,  to  fight  for  the  good 
cause.  If  Mr.  O'Connell  were  alive,  he  would  surely  be  pained  to  see 
the  course  taken  by  so  many  of  his  countrymen  on  this  question.  After 
dinner  I  was  invited  to  attend  a  meeting  of  some  of  the  citizens,  at  the 
railway  station,  where  the  time  passed  very  agreeably  till  four  o'clock, 
when  the  train  started  for  Jackson,  the  capital  of  IMississiopi,  and  after 
a  passage  of  two  hours,  through  a  poor,  clay  country,  seared  with  water- 
courses and  gullies,  with  scanty  crops  of  Indian  corn  and  very  back- 
ward cotton,  we  were  deposited  in  that  city.  It  must  be  called  a  city. 
It  is  the  state  capital,  but  otherwise  there  is  no  reason  why,  in  strict 


116  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHEKN   LIFE. 

nomenclature,  it  should  be  designated  by  any  sucli  title.  It  is  in  the 
usual  style  of  the  "  cities"  which  spring  up  in  the  course  of  a  few  years 
amid  the  stumps  of  half-cleared  fields  in  the  wilderness — wooden  houses, 
stores  kept  by  Germans,  French,  Irish,  Italians ;  a  large  hotel  swarm- 
ing Avith  people,  with  a  noisy  billiard-room  and  a  noisier  bar,  the  arena 
and  the  cause  of  "  difficulties ;"  wooden  houses,  with  portentous  and 
pretentious  white  porticoes,  and  pillars  of  all  the  Grecian  orders ;  a  cu- 
pola or  two,  and  two  or  three  steeples,  too  large  for  the  feeble  bodies 
beneath — hydrocephalic  architecture  ;  a  state-house,  looking  well  in  the 
distance,  ragged,  dirty,  and  mean  within;  groups  of  idlers  in  front  of  the 
"Exchange,"  where  the  business  transacted  consists  in  a  barter  between 
money,  or  credit,  and  "  drinks"  of  various  stimulants ;  a  secluded  tele- 
graph-office round  a  corner;  a  forward  newspaper-office  in  the  street,  and 
a  population  of  negroes,  shuffling  through  the  thick  dust  which  forms 
the  streets.  I  called  on  Mr.  Pettus,  the  governor  of  the  state  of  Missis- 
sippi, according  to  invitation,  and  found  him  in  the  state-house,  in  a 
very  poor  room,  with  broken  windows  and  ragged  carpets,  and  dilapi- 
dated furniture.  He  is  a  grim,  silent  man,  tobacco-ruminant,  abrupt- 
speeched,  firmly  believing  that  the  state  of  society  in  which  he  exists, 
wherein  there  are  monthly  foul  murders  perpetrated  at  the  very  seat  of 
government,  is  the  most  free  and  civilized  in  the  world.  He  is  easy  of 
access  to  all,  and  men  sauntered  in  and  out  of  his  office  just  as  they 
would  walk  into  a  public-house.  Once  on  a  time,  indeed,  the  governor 
was  a  deer-hunter,  in  the  forest,  and  lived  far  away  from  the  haunts  of 
men,  and  he  is  proud  of  the  fact.  He  is  a  strenuous  seceder,  and  has 
done  high-handed  things  in  his  way — simple  apparently,  honest  prob- 
ably, fierce  certainly — and  he  lives,  while  he  is  governor,  on  his  salary 
of  four  thousand  dollars  a  year,  in  the  house  provided  for  him  by  the 
state.  There  was  not  much  to  say  on  either  side.  I  can  answer  for 
one.  Next  day  being  Sunday,  I  remained  at  rest  in  the  house  of  a 
friend  listening  to  local  stories — not  couleur  de  rose,  but  of  a  deeper  tint 
— blood-red  ; — how  such  a  man  shot  another,  and  was  afterward  stabbed 
by  a  third;  how  this  fellow  and  his  friends  hunted  down,  in  broad 
day,  and  murdered  one  obnoxious  to  them — tale  after  tale,  such  as  I 
have  heard  through  the  South  and  seen  daily  narratives  of  in  the  papers. 
Aceldama !  No  security  for  life  !  Property  is  quite  safe.  Its  propri- 
etor is  in  imminent  danger,  were  it  only  from  stray  bullets,  when  he 
turns  a  corner.  The  "bar,"  the  "drink,"  the  savage  practice  of  walking 
about  with  pistol  and  poniard — ungovernable  passions,  ungoverned  be- 
cause there  is  no  law  to  punish  the  deeds  to  which  they  lead — these  are 
the  causes  of  acts  which  would  not  be  tolerated  in  the  worst  davs  of 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  117 

Corsican  vendette,  and  which  must  be  put  down,  or  the  conntrics  in 
which  they  are  unpunished  will  become  as  barbarous  as  jungles  of  wild 
beasts.  In  the  evening  I  started,  by  railroad,  for  the  city  of  Memphis, 
in  Mississippi.  There  was  a  sleeping-car  on  the  train,  but  the  flying- 
bug  and  the  creature  less  volatile,  more  pungent  and  persistent,  which 
bears  its  name,  murdered  sleep ;  and  when  Monday  morning  came,  I 
was  glad  to  arise  and  get  into  one  of  the  carriages,  although  it  w^as  full 
of  noisy  soldiers,  bound  to  the  camp  at  Corinth,  in  the  state  of  Missis- 
sippi, who  had  been  drinking  whiskey  all  night,  and  were  now  scream- 
ing for  water  and  howling  like  demons.  At  Holly  Springs,  where  a 
rude  breakfast  awaited  us,  the  warriors  got  out  on  the  top  of  the  car- 
riages and  performed  a  war-dance  to  the  music  of  their  band,  which  was 
highly  creditable  to  the  carriage-maker's  workmanship.  Along  the  road, 
at  all  the  settlements  and  clearings,  the  white  people  cheered,  and  the 
women  waved  white  things,  and  secession  flags  floated.  There  is  no 
doubt  of  the  state  of  feeling  in  this  part  of  the  country;  and  yet  it  does 
not  look  much  worth  fighting  for — an  arid  soil,  dry  water-courses,  clay 
ravines,  light  crops.  Perhaps  it  will  be  better  a  month  hence,  and  ne- 
groes may  make  it  pay.  There  were  many  in  the  fields,  and  it  struck 
me  they  looked  better  than  those  who  work  in  gangs  on  the  larger  and 
richer  plantations.  Among  our  passengers  were  gentlemen  from  Texas, 
going  to  Richmond  to  off'er  service  to  Mr.  Davis.  They  declared,  the 
feeling  in  their  state  w^as  almost  wdthout  exception  in  favor  of  secession. 
It  is  astonishing  how  positive  all  these  people  are  that  England  is  in 
absolute  dependence  on  cotton  for  her  national  existence.  They  are  at 
once  savage  and  childish.  If  England  does  not  recognize  the  Southern 
Confederacy  pretty  quick,  they  will  pass  a  resolution  not  to  let  her  have 
any  cotton,  except,  <fec.  Suppose  England  does  ever  recognize  a  Con- 
federation based  on  the  principles  of  the  South,  what  guarantee  is  there 
that  in  her  absolute  dependence,  if  it  exists,  similar  coercive  steps  may 
not  be  taken  against  her  ?  "  Oh  !  we  shall  be  friends,  you  know;"  and 
so  on. 

On  the  train  before  us  there  had  just  passed  on  a  company  armed 
with  large  bowie-knives  and  rifled  pistols,  who  called  themselves  the 
"  Tooth-pick  Company."  They  carried  a  coffin  along  wdth  them,  on 
which  was  a  plate  with  "Abe  Lincoln"  inscribed  on  it,  and  they 
amused  themselves  with  the  childish  conceit  of  telling  the  people  as 
they  went  along  that  "  they  were  bound"  to  bring  his  body  back  in  it. 
At  Grand  Junction  station  the  troops  got  out  and  were  mustered  pre- 
paratory to  their  transfer  to  a  train  for  Richmond,  in  Virginia.  The 
first  company,  about  seventy  strong,  consisted  exclusively  of  Irish,  who 


118  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

were  armed  with  rifles  without  bayonets.  The  second  consisted  of  five- 
sixths  Irish,  armed  mostly  with  muskets  ;  the  third  were  of  Americans, 
who  were  well  uniformed,  but  had  no  arras  with  them.  The  fourth, 
clad  in  green,  were  nearly  all  Irish  ;  they  wore  all  sorts  of  clothing,  and 
had  no  pretensions  to  be  regarded  as  disciplined  soldiers.  I  am  led  to 
believe  that  the  great  number  of  Irish  who  have  enlisted  for  service  indi- 
cates a  total  suspension  of  all  the  works  on  which  they  are  ordinarily 
engaged  in  the  South.  They  were  not  very  orderly.  "  Fix  bayonets," 
elicited  a  wonderful  amount  of  controversy  in  the  ranks.  "  Whar  are 
yer  dhrivin  to  ?"  "  Sullivan,  don't  ye  hear  we're  to  fix  beenits  ?"  "Ayse 
the  sthrap  of  my  baynit,  sarjent,  jewel !"  "  If  ye  prod  me  wid  that  agin, 
I'll  let  dayloite  into  ye,"  &c.  Officer  reading  muster — "  No.  23,  James 
Phelan.''  No  reply.  Voice  from  the  ranks — "  Faith,  Phelan's  gone  ; 
shure  he  wint  at  the  last  dipot."  Old  men  and  boys  were  mixed  toge- 
ther, but  the  mass  of  the  rank  and  file  were  strong,  full-grown  men.  In 
one  of  the  carriages  were  some  women  dressed  as  vivandieres,  minus  the 
coquette  air  and  the  trousers  and  boots  of  these  ladies.  They  looked 
sad,  sorry,  dirty  and  foolish.  There  was  great  want  of  water  along  the 
line,  and  the  dust  and  heat  were  very  great  and  disagreeable.  When 
they  have  to  march  many  of  the  men  will  break  down,  owing  to  bad 
shoes  and  the  weight  of  clothes  and  trash  of  various  kinds  they  sling  on 
their  shoulders.  They  moved  off  amid  much  whooping,  and  our  jour- 
ney w^as  continued  through  a  country  in  which  the  railroad  engineer  had 
made  the  opening  for  miles  at  a  time.  When  a  clearing  was  reached, 
however,  there  were  signs  that  the  soil  was  not  without  richness,  and  all 
the  wheat  ready  cut  and  in  sheaf.  The  passengers  said  it  was  fine  and  earl}' , 
and  that  it  averaged  from  forty  to  sixty  bushels  to  the  acre  (more  than 
it  looked).  Very  little  ground  here  is  under  cotton.  It  was  past  one 
o'clock  on  Monday  when  the  train  reached  Memphis,  in  Tennessee, 
which  is  situated  on  a  high  bluff"  overhanging  the  Mississippi.  Here  is 
one  of  the  strategic  positions  of  the  Confederates.  It  is  now  occupied 
by  a  force  of  the  Tennesseeans,  which  is  commanded  by  Major-General 
Pillow,  whom  I  found  quartered  in  Gayoso  House,  a  large  hotel,  named 
after  one  of  the  old  Spanish  rulers  here,  and  as  he  was  stai-ting  to  inspect 
his  batteries  and  the  camp  at  Randolph,  sixty  odd  miles  higher  up  the 
river,  I  could  not  resist  his  pressing  invitations,  tired  as  I  w^as,  to  ac- 
company him  and  his  staff  on  board  the  Ingomar  to  see  what  they  were 
really  like.  First  we  visited  the  bluff",  on  the  edge  of  which  is  con- 
structed a  breastwork  of  cotton  bales,  which  no  infantry  could  get  at, 
and  which  would  offer  no  resistance  to  vertical,  and  but  little  to  hori- 
zontal fire.     It  is  placed  so  close  to  the  edge  of  the  bluff  at  various 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  ligf 

places  that  shell  and  shot  would  knock  away  the  bank  from  under  it. 
The  river  runs  below  deep  and  strong,  and  across  the  roads  or  water- 
courses leading  to  it  are  feeble  barricades  of  plank,  which  a  howitzer 
could  shiver  to  pieces  in  a  few  rounds.  Higher  up  the  bank,  on  a  coni- 
nianding  plateau,  there  is  a  breastwork  and  parapet,  within  which  are 
six  guns,  and  the  general  informed  me  he  intended  to  mount  thirteen 
guns  at  this  part  of  the  river,  which  would  certainly  prove  very  formi- 
dable to  such  steamers  as  they  have  on  these  waters,  if  any  attempt  were 
made  to  move  down  from  Cairo.  In  the  course  of  the  day  I  was  intro- 
duced to  exactly  seventeen  colonels  and  one  captain.  My  happiness  was 
further  increased  by  an  introduction  to  a  youth  of  some  twenty-three 
years  of  age,  with  tender  feet,  if  I  may  judge  from  prunella  slippers,  dressed 
in  a  green  cutaway,  jean  pants,  and  a  tremendous  sombrero  with  a  plume 
of  ostrich  feathers,  and  gold  tassels  looped  at  the  side,  who  had  the  air 
and  look  of  an  apothecary's  errand  boy.  This  was  "  General"  Maggies 
(let  us  say),  of  Arkansas.  Freighted  deeply  with  the  brave,  the  Ingomar 
started  for  her  voyage,  and  we  came  alongside  the  bank  at  Chickasaw 
Bluffs  too  late  to  visit  the  camp,  as  it  was  near  midnight  before  we  arrived, 
I  forgot  to  say  that  a  large  number  of  steamers  were  lying  at  Memphis, 
which  had  been  seized  by  General  Pillow,  and  he  has  forbidden  all  traffic 
in  boats  to  Cairo.     Passengers  must  go  round  by  rail  to  Columbus. 

June  18. — I  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  works  and  bat- 
teries at  the  intrenched  camp  at  Randolph's  Point,  sixty  miles  above 
Memphis,  by  which  it  is  intended  to  destroy  any  flotilla  coming  down 
the  river  from  Cairo,  and  to  oppose  any  force  coming  by  land  to  cover 
its  flank  and  clear  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  The  Ingomar  is 
lying  under  the  rugged  bank,  or  bluflf,  about  150  feet  high,  which  re- 
cedes in  rugged  tumuli  and  watercourses  filled  with  brushwood  from 
the  margin  of  the  river,  some  half-mile  up  and  down  the  stream  at  this 
point,  and  Brigadier-General  Pillow  is  still  riding  round  his  well-beloved 
earthworks  and  his  quaint  battalions,  while  I,  anxious  to  make  the  most 
of  my  time  now  that  I  am  fairly  on  the  run  for  my  base  of  operations, 
have  come  on  board,  and  am  now  writinc:  in  the  cabin,  a  lonor-roofcd 
room,  with  berths  on  each  side,  which  runs  from  stem  to  stern  of  the 
American  boats  over  the  main  deck.  This  saloon  presents  a  curious 
scene.  Over  the  bow,  at  one  side,  there  is  an  office  for  the  sale  of 
tickets,  now  destitute  of  business,  for  the  Ingomar  belongs  to  the  State 
of  Tennessee  ;  at  the  other  side  is  a  bar  where  thirsty  souls,  who  have 
hastened  on  board  from  the  camp  for  a  julep,  a  smash,  or  a  cocktail, 
learn  with  disgust  that  the  only  article  to  be  had  is  fine  Mississippi 
water  with  ice  in  it.     Lviutx  on  the  deck  in  all  attitudes  are  numbers 


120  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

of  men  asleep,  whose  plumed  felt  hats  are  the  only  indications  that 
they  are  soldiers,  except  in  the  rare  case  of  those  who  have  rude  uni- 
forms, and  buttons,  and  stripes  of  colored  cloth  on  the  legs  of  their 
pantaloons.  A  sentry  is  sitting  on  a  chair  smoking  a  cigar.  He  is  on 
guard  over  the  after  part  of  the  deck,  called  the  ladies'  saloon,  and 
sacred  to  the  general  and  his  staff  and  attendants.  He  is  a  tall,  good- 
looking  young  fellow,  in  a  gray  flannel  shirt,  a  black  wide-awake,  gray 
trousers,  fastened  on  a  belt  on  which  is  a  brass  buckle  inscribed  "  U.  S." 
His  rifle  is  an  Enfield,  and  the  bayonet  sheath  is  fastened  to  the  belt 
by  a  thong  of  leather.  That  youthful  patriot  is  intent  on  the  ups  and 
downs  of  fortune  as  exemplified  in  the  pleasing  game  of  euchre,  or 
euker,  which  is  exercising  the  faculties  of  several  of  his  comrades,  who, 
in  their  shirt  sleeves,  are  employing  the  finest  faculties  of  their  nature 
in  that  national  institution ;  but  he  is  not  indiff"erent  to  his  duties,  and 
he  forbids  your  correspondent's  entrance  until  he  has  explained  what 
he  wants  and  who  he  is — and  the  second  is  more  easy  to  do  than  the 
first.  The  sentry  tells  his  captain,  who  is  an  euchreist,  that  "  It's  all 
right,"  and  resumes  his  seat  and  his  cigar,  and  the  work  goes  bravely 
on.  Indeed,  it  went  on  last  night  at  the  same  table,  which  is  within 
a  few  yards  of  the  general's  chair.  And  now  that  I  have  got  a  scrap  of 
paper  and  a  moment  of  quiet,  let  me  say  what  I  have  to  say  of  this 
position,  and  of  what  I  saw — pleasant  things  they  would  be  to  the 
national  general  up  at  Cairo  if  he  could  hear  them  in  time,  unless  he 
is  as  little  prepared  as  his  antagonist.  On  looking  out  of  my  cabin 
this  morning,  I  saw  the  high  and  rugged  bluff*  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  river.  A  few  ridge-poled  tents,  pitched  under 
the  shade  of  some  trees,  on  a  small  spur  of  the  slope,  was  the  only  in- 
dication immediately  visible  of  a  martial  character.  But  a  close  inspec- 
tion in  front  enabled  me  to  detect  two  earthworks,  mounted  with  guns, 
on  the  side  of  the  bank,  considerably  higher  than  the  river,  and  three 
heavy  guns,  possibly  42-pounders,  lay  in  the  dust  close  to  the  landing- 
place,  with  very  rude  carriages  and  bullock-poles  to  carry  them  to  the 
batteries.  A  few  men,  ten  or  twelve  in  number,  were  digging  at  an 
encampment  on  the  face  of  the  slope.  Others  were  lounging  about  the 
beach,  and  others,  under  the  same  infatuation  as  that  which  makes  little 
boys  disport  in  the  Thames  under  the  notion  that  they  are  washing 
themselves,  were  bathing  in  the  Mississippi.  A  dusty  track  wound  up 
to  the  brow  of  the  bluff",  and  there  disappeared.  Some  carts  toiled  up 
and  down  between  the  boat  and  the  crest  of  the  hill.  We  went  on 
shore.  There  was  no' ostentation 'of  any  kind  about  the  reception  of 
the  general  and  his  staff".      A  few  horses  were  waiting  impatiently  in 


PICTURES    OP    SOUTHERN    LIFE.  I2l 

the  sun,  for  flies  will  have  their  way,  and  heavy  men  are  not  so  unbear- 
able as  small  mosquitos.  With  a  cloud  of  colonels — one  late  United 
States  man,  who  was  readily  distingiiisliable  by  his  air  from  the  volun- 
teers— the  general  proceeded  to  visit  his  batteries  and  his  men.  The 
first  work  inspected  was  a  plain  parapet  of  earth,  placed  some  fifty  feet 
above  the  river,  and  protected  very  slightly  by  two  small  flankino- 
parapets.  Six  guns,  32-pounders,  and  howitzers  of  an  old  pattern 
were  mounted  en  barbette,  without  any  traverses  whatever.  The  car- 
riages rested  on  rough  platforms,  and  the  wheels  ran  on  a  traversino- 
semicircle  of  planks,  as  the  iron  rails  were  not  yet  ready.  The  gun- 
ners, a  plain  looking  body  of  men,  very  like  railway  laborers  and 
mechanics,  without  uniform,  were  engaged  at  drill.  It  was  neither 
quick  nor  good  work — about  equal  to  the  average  of  a  squad  after  a 
couple  of  days'  exercise ;  but  the  men  worked  earnestly,  and  I  have 
no  doubt,  if  the  nationalists  give  them  time,  they  will  prove  artillery- 
men in  the  end.  The  general  ordered  practice  to  be  made  with  round 
shot.  After  some  delay,  a  kind  of  hybrid  ship's  carronade  was  loaded. 
The  target  was  a  tree,  about  2,500  yards  distant  I  was  told.  It  ap- 
peared to  me  about  1,700  yards  ofi".  Every  one  was  desirous  of  seeing 
the  shot ;  but  we  were  at  the  wrong  side  for  the  wind,  and  I  ventured 
to  say  so.  However,  the  general  thought  and  said  otherwise.  The 
word  "  Fire  !"  was  given.  x\las  !  the  friction-tube  would  not  explode. 
It  was  one  of  a  new  sort,  which  the  Tennesseeans  are  trying  their 
'prentice  hand  at.  A  second  answered  better.  The  gun  went  off,  but 
where  the  ball  went  to  no  one  could  say,  as  the  smoke  came  into  our 
eyes.  The  party  moved  to  windward,  and,  after  another  fuse  had 
missed,  the  gun  was  again  discharged  at  some  five  degrees  elevation, 
and  the  shot  fell  in  good  line,  200  yards  short  of  the  target,  and  did 
not  ricochet.  Gun  No.  2  was  then  discharged,  and  off  went  the  ball 
at  no  particular  mark,  down  the  river ;  but  if  it  did  go  off,  so  did  the 
gun  also,  for  it  gave  a  frantic  leap  and  jumped  with  the  carriage  off 
the  platform ;  nor  was  this  wonderful,  for  it  was  an  old-fashioned 
chambered  carronade  or  howitzer,  which  had  been  loaded  with  a  full 
charge,  and  solid  shot  enough  to  make  it  burst  with  indio-nation. 
Turning  from  this  battery,  we  visited  another  nearer  the  water,  with 
four  guns  (22-pounders),  which  were  well  placed  to  sweep  the  channel 
with  greater  chance  of  ricochet ;  and  higher  up  on  the  bank,  toward 
a  high  peak  commanding  the  Mississippi,  here  about  700  yards  broad, 
and  a  small  confluent  which  runs  into  it,  was  another  battery  of  two 
guns,  with  a  very  great  command,  but  only  fit  for  shell,  as  the  fire 
must  be  plunging.  All  these  batteries  were  very  ill  constructed,  and 
6 


122  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

in  only  one  was  the  magazine  under  decent  cover.  In  tlie  first  it  was 
in  rear  of  the  batter}^  up  the  hill  behind  it.  The  parapets  were  of 
sand  or  soft  earth,  unprovided  with  merlons.  The  last  had  a  few  sand- 
bags between  the  guns.  Riding  up  a  steep  road,  we  came  to  the  camps 
of  the  men  on  the  wooded  and  undulating  plateau  over  the  river,  which 
is  broken  by  watercourses  into  ravines  covered  with  brushwood  and 
forest  trees.  For  five  weeks  the  Tennessee  troops  under  General  Pil- 
low, who  is  at  the  head  of  the  forces  of  the  state,  have  been  working 
at  a  series  of  curious  intrenchments,  which  are  supposed  to  represent 
an  intrenched  camp,  and  which  look  like  an  assemblage  of  mud  beaver- 
dams.  In  a  word,  they  are  so  complicated  that  they  would  prove  ex- 
ceedingly troublesome  to  the  troops  engaged  in  their  defence,  and  it 
would  require  very  steady,  experienced  regulars  to  man  them  so  as  to 
give  proper  support  to  each  other.  The  maze  of  breastworks,  of  flank- 
ing parapets,  of  parapets  for  field-pieces,  is  overdone.  Several  of  them 
might  prove  useful  to  an  attacking  force.  In  some  places  the  wood 
was  cut  down  in  front  so  as  to  form  a  formidable  natural  abattis ;  but 
generally  here,  as  in  the  batteries  below,  timber  and  brushwood  were 
left  uncut,  up  to  easy  musket-shot  of  the  works,  so  as  to  screen  an 
advance  of  riflemen,  and  to  expose  the  defending  force  to  considerable 
annoyance.  In  small  camps  of  fifteen  or  twenty  tents  each  the  Ten- 
nessee troops  were  scattered,  for  health's  sake,  over  the  plateau,  and 
on  the  level  ground  a  few  companies  were  engaged  at  drill.  The  men 
were  dressed  and  looked  like  laboring  people — small  farmers,  mechan- 
ics, with  some  small,  undersized  lads.  The  majority  were  in  their  shirt 
sleeves,  and  the  awkwardness  with  which  they  handled  their  arms 
showed  that,  however  good  they  might  be  as  shots,  they  were  by  no 
means  proficients  in  manual  exercise.  Indeed,  they  could  not  be,  as 
they  have  been  only  five  weeks  in  the  service  of  the  state,  called  out 
in  anticipation  of  the  secession  vote,  and  since  then  they  have  been 
employed  by  General  Pillow  on  his  fortifications.  They  have  com- 
plained more  than  once  of  their  hard  work,  particularly  when  it  was 
accompanied  by  hard  fare,  and  one  end  of  General  Pillow's  visit  was 
to  inform  them  that  they  would  soon  be  relieved  from  their  labors  by- 
negroes  and  hired  laborers.  Their  tents,  small  ridge-poles,  are  very- 
bad,  but  suited,  perhaps,  to  the  transport.  Each  contains  six  men. 
I  could  get  no  accurate  account  of  their  rations  even  from  the  quarter- 
master-general, and  commissary -general  there  was  none  present ;  but  I 
was  told  that  they  had  "  a  suflSciency — from  f  lb.  to  1  J-  lb.  of  meat,  of 
bread,  of  sugar,  cofl"ee  and  rice  daily."  Neither  spirits  nor  tobacco  is 
served  out  to  these  teri-ible  chewers  and  not  unaccomplished  drinkers. 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTIIERX    LIFE.  123 

Their  pay  "  will  be"  the  same  as  in  the  United  States  army  or  the 
Confederate  States  army — probably  paid  in  the  circulating  medium 
of  the  latter.  Seven  or  eight  hundred  men  were  formed  into  line  for 
inspection.  There  w^ere  few  of  the  soldiers  in  any  kind  of  uniform, 
and  such  uniforms  as  I  saw  were  in  very  bad  taste,  and  consisted  of 
gaudy  facings  and  stripes  on  very  strange  garments.  They  were  armed 
with  old-pattern  percussion  muskets,  and  their  ammunition  pouches 
were  of  diverse  sorts.  Shoes  often  bad,  knapsacks  scarce,  head-pieces 
of  every  kind  of  shape — badges  worked  on  the  front  or  sides,  tinsel  in 
much  request.  Every  man  had  a  tin  water-flask  and  a  blanket.  The 
general  addressed  the  men,  who  were  in  line  two  deep  (many  of  them 
unmistakable  Irishmen),  and  said  what  generals  usually  say  on  such 
occasions — complements  for  the  past,  encouragement  for  the  future. 
"  When  the  hour  of  danger  comes  I  will  be  with  you."  They  did  not 
seem  to  care  much  whether  he  was  or  not ;  and,  indeed,  General  Pil- 
low, in  a  round  hat,  dusty  black  frock-coat,  and  ordinary  "  unstriped" 
trousers,  did  not  look  like  one  who  could  give  any  great  material  ac- 
cession to  the  physical  means  of  resistance,  although  he  is  a  very  ener- 
getic man.  The  major-general,  in  fact,  is  an  attorney-at-law,  or  has 
been  so,  and  was  partner  with  Mr.  Polk,  who,  probably  from  some  of 
the  reasons  which  determine  the  actions  of  partners  to  each  other,  sent 
Mr.  Pillow  to  the  Mexican  war,  where  he  nearly  lost  him,  owing  to 
severe  wounds  received  in  action.  The  general  has  made  his  intrench- 
ments  as  if  he  were  framing  an  indictment.  There  is  not  a  flaw  for  the 
enemy  to  get  through,  but  he  has  bound  up  his  own  men  in  inexorable 
lines  also.  At  one  of  the  works  a  proof  of  the  freedom  of  "  citizen  sol- 
diery" was  afforded  in  a  little  hilarity  on  the  part  of  one  of  the  privates. 
The  men  had  lined  the  parixpet,  and  had  listened  to  the  pleasant  assu- 
rances of  their  commander  that  they  would  knock  off"  the  shovel  and 
hoe  very  soon,  and  be  replaced  by  the  eternal  gentlemen  of  color. 
"Three  cheers  for  General  Pillow"  were  called  for,  and  w^ere  responded 
to  by  the  whooping  and  screeching  sounds  that  pass  muster  in  this 
part  of  the  world  for  cheers.  As  they  ended  a  stentorian  voice  shouted 
out,  "  Who  cares  for  General  Pillow  ?"  and,  as  no  one  answered,  it 
might  be  unfairly  inferred  that  gallant  officer  was  not  the  object  of 
the  favor  or  solicitude  of  his  troops ;  probably  a  temporary  unpopu- 
larity connected  with  hard  work  found  expression  in  the  daring  ques- 
tion. 

Randolph's  Point  is,  no  doubt,  a  very  strong  position.  The  edges 
of  the  plateau  command  the  rear  of  the  batteries  below ;  the  ravines  in 
the  bluff"  would  give  cover  to  a  large  force  of  riflemen,  who  could  ren- 


124  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

del-  the  batteries  untenable  if  taken  from  the  river  face,  unless  the  camp 
in  their  rear  on  the  top  of  the  plateau  Avas  carried.  Great  loss  of  life, 
and  probable  failure,  would  result  from  any  attack  on  the  works  from 
the  river  merely.  But  a  flotilla  might  get  past  the  guns  without  any 
serious  loss,  in  the  present  state  of  their  service  and  equipment ;  and 
there  is  nothing  I  saw  to  prevent  the  landing  of  a  force  on  the  banks  of 
the  river,  which,  with  a  combined  action  on  the  part  of  an  adequate 
force  of  gun-boats,  could  carry  the  position.  As  the  river  falls,  the 
round-shot  fire  of  the  guns  will  be  even  less  effective.  The  general  is 
providing  water  for  the  camp,  by  means  of  lai'ge  cisterns  dug  in  the 
ground,  which  will  be  filled  with  water  from  the  river  by  steam-power. 
The  oflflcers  of  the  araiy  of  Tennessee  with  whom  I  spoke  were  plain, 
farmerly  planters,  merchants,  and  lawyers,  and  the  heads  of  the  depart- 
ment were  in  no  respect  better  than  their  inferiors  by  reason  of  any 
military  acquirements,  but  were  shrewd,  energetic,  common  sense  men. 
The  officer  in  command  of  the  works,  however,  understood  his  business, 
apparently,  and  was  well  supported  by  the  artillery  officer.  There  were, 
I  was  told,  eight  pieces  of  field-artillery  disposable  for  the  defence  of 
the  camp. 

Having  returned  to  the  steamer,  the  party  proceeded  up  the  river  to 
another  small  camp  in  defence  of  a  battery  of  four  guns,  or  rather  of  a 
small  parallelogram  of  soft  sand  covering  a  man  a  little  higher  than  the 
knee,  with  four  guns  mounted  in  it  on  the  river  face.  No  communica- 
tion exists  through  the  woods  between  the  two  camps,  which  must  be 
six  or  seven  miles  apart.  The  force  stationed  here  was  composed  prin- 
cipally of  gentlemen.  They  were  all  in  uniform.  A  detachment 
worked  one  of  the  guns,  which  the  general  wished  to  see  fired  with 
round  shot.  In  five  or  six  minutes  after  the  order  was  given  the  gun 
was  loaded,  and  the  word  given,  "  Fire."  The  gunner  pulled  the  lan- 
yard hard,  but  the  tube  did  not  explode.  Another  was  tried.  A  strong 
jerk  pulled  it  out  bent  and  incombustible.  A  third  was  inserted  which 
came  out  broken.  The  fourth  time  was  the  charm,  and  the  ball  was 
projected  about  sixty  yards  to  the  right  and  one  hundred  yards  short 
of  the  mark — a  stump,  some  1,200  yards  distant,  in  the  river.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  there  are  no  disparts,  tangents,  or  elevating  screws 
to  the  guns ;  the  officer  was  obliged  to  lay  it  by  the  eye  with  a  plain 
chock  of  wood.  The  general  explained  that  the  friction  tubes  were  the 
results  of  an  experiment  he  was  making  to  manufacture  them,  but  I 
agreed  with  one  of  the  officers,  who  muttered  in  my  ear,  "  The  old  lin- 
stock and  portfire  are  a  darned  deal  better."  There  were  no  shells,  1 
could  see,  in  the  battery,  and,  on  inquiry,  I  learned  the  fuses  were  made 


PICTUBES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  125 

of  wood  at  Memphis,  and  were  not  considered  by  the  officers  at  u!l 
trustworthy.  Powder  is  so  scarce  that  all  salutes  are  interdicted,  except 
to  the  governor  of  the  state.  In  the  two  camps  there  were,  I  was 
informed,  about  4,000  men.  My  eyesight,  as  far  as  I  went,  confirmed 
me  of  the  existence  of  some  1,800,  but  I  did  not  visit  all  the  outlying 
tents.  On  landing,  the  band  had  played  "God  Save  the  Queen"  and 
"Dixie's  Land;"  on  returning,  we  had  the  "Marseillaise"  and  the 
national  anthem  of  the  Southern  Confederation ;  and  by  Avay  of  paren- 
thesis, it  may  be  added,  if  you  do  not  already  know  the  fact,  that 
"  Dixie's  Land"  is  a  synonym  for  heaven.  It  appears  that  there  was 
once  a  good  planter,  named  "Dixie,"  who  died  at  some  period  unknown, 
to  the  intense  grief  of  his  animated  property.  They  found  expression 
for  their  sorrow  in  song,  and  consoled  themselves  by  clamoring  in  verse 
for  their  removal  to  the  land  to  which  Dixie  had  departed,  and  where, 
probably,  the  revered  spirit  would  be  greatly  surprised  to  find  himself 
in  their  company.  Whether  they  were  ill-treated  after  he  died,  and 
thus  had  reason  to  deplore  his  removal,  or  merely  desired  heaven  in  the 
abstract,  nothing  known  enables  me  to  assert.  But  Dixie's  Land  is 
now  generally  taken  to  mean  the  seceded  states,  where  Mr.  Dixie  cer- 
tainly is  not^  at  this  present  writing.  The  song  and  air  are  the  compo- 
sition of  the  organized  African  association,  for  the  advancement  of 
music  and  their  own  profit,  which  sings  in  New  York,  and  it  may  be 
as  well  to  add,  that  in  all  my  tour  in  the  South,  I  heard  little  melody 
from  lips  black  or  white,  and  only  once  heard  negroes  singing  in  the 
fields. 

Several  sick  men  were  put  on  board  the  steamboat,  and  were  laid  on 
mattresses  on  deck.  I  spoke  to  them,  and  found  they  were  nearly  all 
suffering  from  diarrhoea,  and  that  they  had  had  no  medical  attendance 
in  camp.  All  the  doctors  want  to  fight,  and  the  medical  service  of  the 
Tennessee  troops  is  very  defective.  As  I  was  going  down  the  river,  I 
had  some  interesting  conversation  with  General  Clark,  who  commands 
about  5,000  troops  of  the  Confederate  States,  at  present  quartered  in 
two  camps  at  Tennessee,  on  these  points.  He  told  me  the  commissariat 
and  the  medical  service  had  given  him  the  greatest  annoyance,  and  con- 
fessed some  desertions  and  courts-martial  had  occurred.  Guard-mount- 
ing and  its  accessory  duties  w^ere  performed  in  a  most  slovenly  manner, 
and  the  German  troops,  from  the  Southern  parts,  were  particularly  dis- 
orderly. It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  I  reached  Memphis.  I  may 
mention,  obiter,  that  the  captain  of  the  steamer,  talking  of  arms,  gave 
me  a  notion  of  the  sense  of  security  he  felt  on  board  his  vessel.  From 
under  his  pillow  he  pulled  one  of  his  two  Derringer  pistols,  and  out  of 


126  riCTURES    OF    SOUTHEKN    LIFE. 

his  clothes-press  he  produced  a  long  heavy  rifle,  and  a  double  gun, 
which  was,  he  said,  capital  with  ball  and  buckshot. 

June  19. — Up  at  three  a.  m.,  to  get  ready  for  the  train  at  five,  which 
will  take  me  out  of  Dixie's  Land  to  Cairo.  If  the  owners  of  the  old 
hostelries  in  the  Egyptian  city  were  at  all  like  their  Tennesseean  fel- 
low-craftsmen in  the  upstart  institution  which  takes  its  name,  I  wonder 
how  Herodotus  managed  to  pay  his  way.  My  sable  attendant  quite 
entered  into  our  feelings,  and  was  rewarded  accordingly.  At  five  a.  m., 
covered  with  dust,  contracted  in  a  drive  through  streets  which  seem 
"  paved  with  waves  of  mud,"  to  use  the  phrase  of  a  Hibernian  gentle- 
man connected  with  the  luggage  department  of  the  omnibus,  "  only 
the  mud  was  all  dust,"  to  use  my  own,  I  started  in  the  cars  along  with 
some  Confederate  officers  and  several  bottles  of  whiskey,  which  at  that 
early  hour  was  considered  by  my  unknown  companions  as  a  highly 
eflicient  prophylactic  against  the  morning  dews,  but  it  appeared  that 
these  dews  are  of  such  a  deadly  character,  that,  in  order  to  guard 
ao-ainst  their  aff"ects,  one  must  become  dead  drunk.  The  same  remedv, 
I  am  assured,  is  sovereiofn  ao-ainst  rattlesnake  bites.  I  can  assure  the 
friends  of  those  gentlemen  that  they  were  amply  fortified  against  any 
amount  of  dew  or  rattlesnake  poison  before  they  got  to  the  end  of 
their  whiskey,  so  great  was  the  supply.  By  the  Memphis  papers,  it 
seems  as  if  that  institution  of  blood  prevailed  there  as  in  New  Orleans, 
for  I  read  in  my  papers,  as  I  went  along,  of  two  murders  and  one 
shooting  as  the  incidents  of  the  previous  day,  contributed  by  the 
"local." 

To  contrast  with  this  low  state  of  social  existence  there  must  be  a 
high  condition  of  moral  feeling,  for  the  journal  I  was  reading  con- 
tained a  very  elaborate  article  to  show  the  wickedness  of  any  one  pay- 
ing his  debts,  and  of  any  state  acknowledging  its  liabilities,  which 
would  constitute  an  individual  vade  mecum  for  Basinghall  street.  At 
Humboldt  there  was  what  is  called  a  change  of  cars — a  process  that  all 
the  philosophy  of  the  Baron  could  not  have  enabled  him  to  endure 
without  some  loss  of  temper,  for  there  was  a  whole  Kosmos  of  south- 
ern patriotism  assembled  at  the  station,  burning  with  the  fires  of  liber- 
ty, and  bent  on  going  to  the  camp  at  Union  City,  forty-six  miles  away, 
where  the  Confederate  forces  of  Tennessee,  aided  by  Mississippi  regi- 
ments, are  out  under  the  greenwood  tree.  Their  force  was  irresistible, 
particularly  as  there  were  numbers  of  relentless  citizenesses — what  the 
American  papers  call  "  quite  a  crowd" — as  the  advanced  guard  of  the 
invading  army.  While  the  original  occupants  were  being  compressed 
or  expelled  by  crinoline — that  all  absorbing,  defensive  and  aggressive 


PICTXJEES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  127 

ai't'''le  of  feminine  war  reigns  here  in  wide-spread,  iron-bound  circles — ■ 
I  took  refuge  on  the  platform,  where  I  made,  in  an  involuntary  way,  a 
good  many  acquaintances  in  this  sort :  "Sir,  my  name  is  Jones — Judge 
Jones,  of  Pumpkin  County.  I  am  happy  to  know  you,  sir."  We 
shake  hands  affectionately.  "  Colonel  (Jones'  loquitur),  allow  me  to 
introduce  you  to  my  friend,  Mr.  Scribble  !  Colonel  Maggs,  Mr.  Scrib- 
ble" The  colonel  shakes  hands  and  immediately  darts  off  to  a  circle 
of  his  friends,  whom  he  introduces,  and  they  each  introduce  some  one 
else  to  me,  and,  finally,  I  am  introduced  to  the  engine-driver,  Avho  is 
really  an  acquaintance  of  value,  for  he  is  good  enough  to  give  me  a 
seat  on  his  engine,  and  the  bell  tolls,  the  steam  trumpet  bellows,  and 
we  move  from  the  station  an  hour  behind  time,  and  with  twice  the 
number  of  passengers  the  cars  were  meant  to  contain.  Our  engineer 
did  his  best  to  overcome  his  difficulties,  and  we  rushed  rapidly,  if  not 
steadily,  through  a  wilderness  of  forest  ana  tangled  brakes,  through 
which  the  rail,  without  the  smallest  justification,  performed  curves  and 
twists,  indicative  of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  engineer  to  consume 
the  greatest  amount  of  rail  on  the  shortest  extent  of  line.  My  com- 
panion was  a  very  intelligent  Southern  gentleman,  formerly  editor  of  a 
newspaper.  ,  We  talked  of  the  crime  of  the  country,  of  the  brutal 
shootings  and  stabbings  which  disgraced  it.  He  admitted  their  exist- 
ence with  regret,  but  he  could  advise  and  suggest  no  remedy.  "The 
rowdies  have  rushed  in  upon  us,  so  that  we  can't  master  them."  "Is  the 
law  powerless  ?"  "Well,  sir,  you  see  these  men  got  hold  of  those  who 
should  administer  the  law,  or  they  are  too  powerful  or  too  reckless  to 
be  kept  down."  "  That  is  a  reign  of  terror — of  mob  ruffianism  ?"  "  It 
don't  hurt  respectable  people  much ;  but  I  agree  with  you  it  must  be 
put  down."  "When — how?"  "Well,  sir,  when  things  are  settled,  we'll 
just  take  the  law  into  our  hands.  Kot  a  man  shall  have  a  vote  unless 
he's  American-born,  and,  by  degrees,  we'll  get  rid  of  these  men  who 
disgrace  us."  "  Are  not  many  of  your  regiments  composed  of  Germans 
and  Irish — of  foreigners,  in  fact?"  "Yes,  sir."  I  did  not  suggest  to 
him  the  thought  which  rose  in  my  mind,  that  these  gentlemen,  if  suc- 
cessful, would  be  very  little  inclined  to  abandon  their  rights  while  they 
had  arms  in  their  hands ;  but  it  occurred  to  me  as  well  that  this  would 
be  rather  a  poor  reward  for  the  men  who  were  engaged  in  establishing 
the  Southern  Confederacy.  The  attempt  may  fail,  but  assuredly  I  have 
heard  it  expressed  too  often  to  doubt  that  there  is  a  determination 
on  the  part  of  the  leaders  in  the  movement  to  take  away  the  suffrage 
from  the  men  whom  they  do  not  scruple  to  employ  in  fighting  their 
battles.     If  they  cut  the  throats  of  the  enemy  they  will  stifle  their  own 


128  PICTURES    OP    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

sweet  voices  at  the  same  time,  or  soon  afterward — a  capital  recom- 
pense to  their  emigrant  soldiers  ! 

The  portion  of  Tennessee  traversed  by  the  railroad  is  not  very  attrac- 
tive, for  it  is  nearly  uncleared.  In  the  sparse  clearings  were  fields  of 
Indian  corn,  growing  amid  blackened  stumps  of  trees  and  rude  log 
shanties,  and  the  white  population  which  looked  out  upon  us  was 
poorly  housed  at  least,  if  not  badly  clad.  At  last  we  reached  Corinth. 
It  would  have  been  scarcely  recognizable  by  Mummius — even  if  he  had 
ruined  his  old  handiwork  over  again.  This  proudly-named  spot  con- 
sisted, apparently,  of  a  grog-shop  in  wood,  and  three  shanties  of  a  simi- 
lar material,  with  out-offices  to  match,  and  the  Acro-Corinth  was  a 
grocery  store,  of  which  the  proprietors  had  no  doubt  gone  to  the  wars, 
as  it  was  shut  up,  and  their  names  were  suspiciously  Milesian.  But, 
if  Corinth  was  not  imposing,  Troy,  which  we  reached  after  a  long  run 
through  a  forest  of  virgin  timber,  was  still  simpler  in  architecture  and 
general  design.  It  was  too  new  for  "  Troja  fuit,'''*  and  the  general 
"fixins"  would  scarcely  authorize  one  to  say  ^'-  Troja  fueritr 

The  Dardanian  Towers  were  represented  by  a  timber  house,  and 
Helen  the  Second — whom  we  may  take  on  this  occasion  to  have  been 
simulated  by  an  old  lady  smoking  a  pipe,  whom  I  saw  in  the  verandah 
— could  have  set  them  on  fire  much  more  readily  than  did  her  inter- 
esting prototype  ignite  the  city  of  Priam.  The  rest  of  the  place,  and 
of  the  inhabitants,  as  I  saw  it  and  them,  might  be  considered  as  an 
agglomerate  of  three  or  four  sheds,  a  few  log  huts,  a  saw-mill,  and  some 
twenty  negroes  sitting  on  a  log  and  looking  at  the  train.  From  Troy 
the  road  led  to  a  cypress  swamp,  over  which  the  engines  bustled,  rattled, 
tumbled,  and  hopped  at  a  perilous  rate  along  a  high  trestlework,  and 
at  last  we  came  to  ''  Union  City,"  which  seemed  to  be  formed  by  great 
aggregate  meetings  of  discontented  shavings  which  had  been  whirled 
into  heaps  out  of  the  forest  hard  by.  But  here  was  the  camp  of  the 
Confederates,  which  so  many  of  our  fellow  passengers  were  coming  out 
into  the  wilderness  to  see.  Their  white  tents  and  plank  huts  gleamed 
out  through  the  green  of  oak  and  elm,  and  hundreds  of  men  came  out 
to  the  platform  to  greet  their  friends,  and  to  inquire  for  baskets,  boxes, 
and  hampers,  which  put  me  in  mind  of  the  quartermaster's  store  at 
Balaklava.  We  have  all  heard  of  the  unhappy  medical  officer  who  ex- 
hausted his  resources  to  get  up  a  large  chest  from  that  store  to  the 
camp,  and  who  on  opening  it,  in  the  hope  of  finding  inside  the  articles 
he  was  most  in  need  of,  discovered  that  it  contained  an  elegant  assort- 
ment of  wooden  legs ;  but  he  could  not  have  been  so  much  disgusted 
as  a  youthful  warrior  here  who  was  handed  a  wicker-covered  jar  from 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  129 

the  lugfgage  van,  which  he  "  tapped"  on  the  spot,  expecting  to  find  it 
full  of  Bourbon  whiskey,  or  something  equally  good.  He  raised  the 
ponderous  vessel  aloft  and  took  a  long  pull,  to  the  envy  of  his  com- 
rades, and  then  spirting  out  the  fluid  with  a  hideous  face  exclaimed, 
"  d ,  etc.  Why,  if  the  old  woman  has  not  sent  me  syrup  !''  Evi- 
dently no  joke,  for  tho  crowd  around  him  never  laughed,  and  quietly 
dispersed.  It  Avas  fully  two  hours  before  the  train  got  away  from  the 
camp,  leaving  a  vast  quantity  of  good  things  and  many  ladies,  who  had 
come  on  in  the  excursion  train,  behind  them.  There  were  about  6,000 
men  there,  it  is  said,  rude,  big,  rough  fellows,  with  sprinklings  of  odd 
companies,  composed  of  gentlemen  of  fortune  exclusively.  The  sol- 
diers, who  are  only  entitled  to  the  name  in  virtue  of  their  carrying 
arms,  their  duty,  and  possibly  their  fighting  qualities,  lay  under  the 
trees  playing  cards,  cooking,  smoking,  or  reading  the  papers ;  but  the 
camp  was  guarded  by  sentries,  some  of  whom  carried  their  firelocks 
under  their  arms  like  umbrellas,  others  by  the  muzzle,  with»the  butt 
over  the  shoulder  ;  one,  for  ease,  had  stuck  his,  with  the  bayonet  in  the 
ground,  upright  before  him ;  others  laid  their  arms  against  the  trees, 
and  preferred  a  sitting  to  an  upright  posture.  In  front  of  one  camp 
there  were  two  brass  field-pieces,  seemingly  in  good  order.  Many  of 
the  men  had  sporting  rifles  or  plain  muskets.  There  were  several  boys 
of  fifteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age  among  the  men,  who  could  scarcely 
carry  their  arms  for  a  long  day's  march ;  but  the  Tennessee  and  Mis- 
sissippi infantry  were  generally  the  materials  of  good  soldiers.  The 
camps  were  not  regularly  pitched,  with  one  exception;  the  tents  were 
too  close  together ;  the  water  is  bad,  and  the  result  was  that  a  good 
deal  of  measles,  fever,  diarrhoea,  and  dysentery  prevailed.  One  man 
who  came  on  the  train  was  a  specimen  of  many  of  the  classes  which  fill 
the  ranks — a  tall,  very  muscular,  handsome  man,  with  a  hunter's  eye, 
about  thirty-five  years  of  age,  brawny-shouldered,  brown-faced,  black- 
bearded,  hairy-handed  ;  he  bad  once  owned  one  hundred  and  ten  negroes 
— equal,  say,  to  £20,000 — but  he  had  been  a  patriot,  a  lover  of  freedom, 
a  filibuster.  First  he  had  gone  off"  with  Lopez  to  Cuba,  where  he  was 
taken,  put  in  prison,  and  included  among  the  number  who  received 
grace  ;  next  he  had  gone  off  with  Walker  to  Nicaragua,  but  in  his  last 
expedition  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  was  only  restored 
to  liberty  by  the  British  officer  who  was  afterward  assaulted  in  New 
Orleans  for  the  part  he  took  in  the  affair.  These  little  adventures  had 
reduced  his  stock  to  five  negroes,  and  to  defend  them  he  took  up  arms, 
and  he  looked  like  one  who  could  use  them.  When  he  came  from 
Nicaragua  he  weighed  only  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds,  now  he  was 
6* 


130  PICTURES    OP    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

over  two  hundred  pounds — a  splendid  bote  fauve  ;  and,  without  wish- 
ing him  harm,  may  I  be  permitted  to  congratulate  American  society  on 
its  chance  of  p-ettino;  rid  of  a  considerable  number  of  those  of  whom  he 
is  a  representative  man.  We  learned  incidentally  that  the  district 
wherein  these  troops  are  quartered  was  distinguished  by  its  attachment 
to  the  Union.  By  its  last  vote  Tennessee  proved  that  there  are  at 
least  forty  thousand  voters  in  the  state  who  are  attached  to  the  United 
States  government.  At  Columbus  the  passengers  were  transferred  to  a 
steamer,  which  in  an  hour  and  a  half  made  its  way  against  the  stream 
of  the  Mississippi  to  Cairo.  There,  in  the  clear  light  of  a  summer's 
eve,  were  floating  the  stars  and  stripes — the  first  time  I  had  seen  the 
flag,  with  the  exception  of  a  glimpse  of  it  at  Fort  Pickens,  for  two 
months.  Cairo  is  in  Illinois,  on  the  spur  of  land  which  is  formed 
by  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  River  with  the  Mississippi,  and  its  name  is 
probably  well  known  to  certain  speculators  in  England,  who  believed  in 
the  fortuTies  of  a  place  so  appropriately  named  and  situated.  Here  is 
the  camp  of  Illinois  troops  under  General  Prentiss,  which  watches  the 
shores  of  the  Missouri  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  Kentucky  on  the  other. 
Of  them,  and  of  what  may  be  interesting  to  readers  in  England,  I  shall 
speak  in  my  next  letter.  I  find  there  is  a  general  expression  of  satis- 
faction at  the  sentiments  expressed  by  Lord  John  Russell  in  the  speech 
which  has  just  been  made  known  here,  and  that  the  animosity  excited 
by  what  a  portion  of  the  American  press  called  the  hostility  of  the 
foreign  minister  to  the  United  States,  has  been  considerably  abated, 
although  much  has  been  done  to  fan  the  anger  of  the  people  into  a 
flame,  because  England  has  acknowledged  the  Confederate  States  have 
limited  belligerent  rights. 


Cairo,  Illinois. 
In  my  last  letter  I  gave  an  account  of  what  I  saw  on  my  way  to  the 
city  of  Memphis,  and  of  my  visit  to  the  Secessionists'  camp,  and  brought 
up  the  narrative  of  the  journey  to  my  arrival  at  this  place,  which  is  the 
head-quarters  of  the  brigade  of  Illinois  troops  employed  in  behalf  of 
the  Union  to  keep  a  watch  and  ward  over  the  important  point  which 
commands  the  junction  of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  rivers.  Major- 
General  Pillow,  of  Tennessee,  blockades  the  current  of  the  united  rivers 
at  Memphis  ;  Brigadier-General  Prentiss  blockades  both  streams  before 
they  join  at  Cairo  higher  up.  The  former  is  in  the  midst  of  friends ; 
the  latter  is  surrounded  by  enemies — across  the  rivers,  in  his  rear,  be- 
low, behind,  and  above  him — in  his  very  camp  there  are  Secessionist 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  131 

feelings,  sentiments,  and  wishes,  sometimes  represented  by  actual  force, 
There  are  in  the  larger  states  about  this  vast  region  conditions  of 
opinion  on  the  subject  of  Union  or  Secession  which  are  like  the  electrical 
phenomena  of  a  conductor,  charged  by  induction.  As  the  states  ap- 
proach or  recede  from  the  great  slave  agriculturists  they  become  Seces- 
sionist, or  divided,  and  finally  Unionist.  Western  Virginia  is  rather 
federalist  than  otherwise ;  Southern  Illinois  is  in  .several  counties  all 
but  secessionist ;  East  and  West  Tennessee  differ  in  sentiment  on  the 
great  question  Missouri  is  also  distracted  by  federalist  and  dis- 
unionist. 

It  may  be  that  this  schism  will  not  only  break  up  the  Union,  but 
even  split  up  the.  states,  for  the  sovereignity  of  which  one  part  of  the 
republic  is  arrayed  in  arms  against  the  other.  The  secessionists,  how- 
ever, stop  short  with  their  universal  remedy  at  the  borders  of  each 
state,  and  do  not  admit  the  right  of  separation  to  any  portion  of  a 
state  unless  it  be  in  their  own  favor.  A  Union  man  is  very  glad  to 
observe  discussion  in  a  state  when  it  is  brought  about  by  the  friends 
of  the  government  at  Washington.  A  Northern  man  will  endure  any 
thing  but  the  idea  of  the  Union  being  broken  up  ;  he  becomes  intem- 
perate and.  angry  if  it  be  hinted  at.  But,  in  whatever  way  the  end 
may  be  worked  out,  it  is  clear  the  means  used  in  doing  so  is  the  old- 
fashioned  machine  in  vogue  in  the  old  world  in  the  hands  of  despots, 
kings,  and  rulers  ;  and  that  the  majority  in  states  which  was  the  ruling 
power  must  be  destroyed  by  the  process.  The  argument  of  a  self- 
governing  people  for  the  whole  of  the  United  States  is  now  convenient 
enough  ;  but  we  heard  very  different  language  when  England  demand- 
ed redress  for  the  imprisonment  of  her  subjects  at  Charleston,  and 
when  a  British  subject  was  seized  in  Xew  York  because  he  had  de- 
stroyed a  vessel  in  the  service  of  the  enemy.  In  fact,  the  whole  of 
the  philosophical  abstractions  on  which  the  founders  of  the  republic 
based  their  constitution,  have  given  way  before  the  pressure  of  events, 
and  every  step  that  is  taken  by  the  federal  government  in  vindication 
of  its  rights  or  prerogatives  is  embarrassed  by  difficulties  which  in  the 
end  must  be  cut  by  the  sword.  The  authorities  can  scarcely  deal  even 
with  a  rebel  privateer ;  and  in  the  case  of  the  schooner  taken  by  the 
United  States  brig  Perry  in  all  but  flagrant  piracy,  with  proofs  abund- 
ant of  her  guilt,  there  is  no  court  to  condemn  her,  unless  one  be 
specially  devised,  inasmuch  as  she  ought  by  law  to  be  condemned  in 
the  United  States  court  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
where  the- United  States  processes  at  this  moment  are  not  of  much 
etYect.     It  is  obvious  that  such  an  emergency  as  the  present  cannot  be 


132  PICTTTRES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

met  by  any  constitutional  devices.  Republics  in  a  crisis  have  always 
had  recourse  to  dictators.  If  word-splitters,  doctrine-mongers,  and 
dodging  politiciiins,  at  the  forthcoming  Congress  at  Washington,  at- 
tempt to  control  the  action  of  the  executive  by  "  constitutional"  de- 
vices, motions,  or  resolutions,  they  will  do  more  harm  to  the  cause  of 
the  Union  than  all  the  militia  captains  of  the  enemy's  host. 

A  few  hours  took  me  out  of  the  Southern  camps  to  the  Federalist 
position ;  but  secession  sentiments  travelled  on  board  the  steamer.  An 
English  steward,  who  left  his  country  so  long  ago  that  he  forgets  all 
the  feelings  of  his  countrymen,  expressed  his  opinion  that  the  South 
would  hold  its  own  on  the  slavery  basis,  and  professed  astonishment  at 
the  notion  that  slavery  was  not  in  itself  a  good  thin^  which  he  found 
prevalent  in  Great  Britain.  The  passengers  were  rather  Secessionist 
than  Unionist,  and  I  must  say,  from  what  I  have  seen,  there  is  far  more 
leniency  and  forbearance  shown  by  the  United  States  authorities  to 
the  rebels  than  the  latter  exhibit  toward  those  who  are  in  favor  of 
federal  principles,  which  are  generally  described  down  South  as  "  abo- 
litionist." On  landing  at  the  levee  of  Cairo,  the  passengers  went 
where  they  listed,  and  a  very  strong  secessionist  from  New  Orleans, 
who  had  travelled  with  me  in  the  train  going  north  on  "  business" — I 
suspect  tarn  Marte  quam  Mercurio — was  let  go  his  way  by  General 
Prentiss  after  a  brief  detention.  Regarded  from  the  river,  Cairo  con- 
sists of  a  bank  of  mud  running  out  in  the  junction  of  the  Mississippi 
and  Ohio,  in  the  shape  of  a  horizontal  <^.  The  tops  of  certain  unim- 
pressive wooden  stores  appear  above  the  bank,  and  one  tall  hotel  rises 
aloft  near  the  sharp  end,  before  which  the  United  States  flag  floats 
with  all  its  thirty-four  stars.  At  the  angle  there  is  an  earthwork, 
which  is  not  yet  complete,  but  which  will  soon  be  finished,  in  very 
good  order.  It  is  a  redan,  or  rather  a  fleche,  following  the  line  of  the 
banks,  with  a  good  profile  and  command — a  regular  ditch,  scarp  and 
counterscarp,  and  it  owes  its  excellence  probably  to  the  skill  of  a 
Colonel  Wagner,  a  Hungarian  artillery  officer,  who  is  in  charge  of  it. 
The  hotel  was  crowded  with  men  in  uniform,  and  it  was  suggested  by 
the  landlord  that  one  bed  was  large  enough  for  two  stout  gentlemen — 
my  friend  and  myself — the  thermometer  being  at  100°  or  so  in  the 
shade ;  but  there  was  a  difference  of  opinion  on  that  point,  and  finally 
we  were  quartered  in  a  secluded  little  chamber,  two-bedded,  one-win- 
dowed, with  a  fine  view  into  the  Isack-yard.  The  delta  is  strongly  oc- 
cupied by  Illinois  volunteer  forces,  with  two  field  batteries  and  several 
guns  of  position.  On  the  opposite  shore  of  the  Mississippi,  at  a  place 
called  Bird's  Point,  in  the  State  of  Missouri,  is  a  detached  post,  with 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHER??   LIFE.  133 

field  intrenchmcnts  held  by  a  regiment  composed  of  Germans,  Poles, 
and  Hungarians,  under  Colonel  Schuttner,  about  one  thousand  strong, 
and  several  pieces  of  light  artillery.  Posts  are  also  established  higher 
up  on  the  banks  of  each  river,  but  on  the  bank  of  the  Ohio,  opposite 
to  Cairo,  the  soil  is  tabooed.  There  is  the  "  sacred  soil"  of  Kentucky, 
and  Beriah  Magoffin  has  warned  the  United  States  and  Confederate 
States  off  his  premises.  It  is  my  belief,  however,  that  Columbus  will 
not  be  long  unoccupied.  The  Kentuckians  opposite  Cairo  are  very 
strong  secessionists. 

At  the  rear  of  the  hotel,  in  the  hollow  between  the  levees  and  the 
rivers,  is  "  Camp  Defiance,"  which  must  be  the  base  of  operations  of 
any  force  proceeding  down  the  Mississippi.  On  the  morning  of  my 
arrival  (June  20),  I  was  introduced  to  General  Prentiss,  whom  I  found 
in  a  large  room  on  the  ground  floor  of  the  hotel,  which  is  the  head- 
quarters of  the  brigade.  He  is  a  man  in  the  prime  of  life,  about 
forty  years  of  age,  with  a  clear  liquid  blue  eye,  and  very  agreeable 
in  manner ;  smooth-faced,  except  as  to  the  chin,  which  is  adorned  by 
the  harhe  tVAfrique  or  goatee,  so  much  affected  in  America  ;  over  the 
middle  height,  slight  and  active  figure,  and  speaking  with  what  is  called 
a  slight  western  accent.  Although  he  was  aware  I  had  just  come  from 
Memphis,  the  general  had  the  good  taste  not  to  ask  any  questions  re- 
specting the  position,  which  is  more  than  I  can  say  of  all  I  met  on 
either  side.  By  his  elbow  was  his  acting  aide-de-camp  and  military 
secretary,  an  Englishman  named  Binmore,  who  was  formerly  engaged 
as  government  stenographer  at  Washington,  and  has  now  sharpened 
his  pencil  into  a  sword.  A  number  of  officers  were  in  the  room,  one 
of  whom  was  a  Hungarian,  Milotsky ;  another  a  German,  a  third  a 
Scotchman,  a  fourth  an  Englishman.  In  conversing  on  various  mat- 
ters, General  Prentiss  showed  me,  with  a  smile,  a  copy  of  a  newspaper, 
published  in  Kentucky,  which  contained  an  "  article"  on  himself  that 
cannot  readily  meet  with  a  parallel  even  in  the  journalism  of  this  part 
of  the  world.  For  the  benefit  of  your  readers  I  send  it,  that  they 
may  judge  what  sort  of  a  people  it  must  be  which  tolerates  the  use  of 
such  language : 

There  is  a  man  now  vegetating  at  Cairo,  by  name  Prentiss,  who  is  in  command 
of  the  forces  at  that  point.  His  quahfications  for  the  command  of  such  a  squad  of 
villains  and  cut-throats  are:  He  is  a  miserable  hound,  a  dirty  dog,  a  sociable 
fellow,  a  treacherous  villain,  a  notorious  thief,  a  lying  blackguard,  has  served  his 
regular  five  years  in  the  penitentiary,  and  keeps  his  hide  continually  full  of  Cincin- 
nati whisky,  which  he  buys  by  the  barrel  to  save  money.  In  him  are  embodied  all 
the  leprous  rascalities,  and  in  this  hving  sore  the  gallows  has  been  cheated  of  its 
own.     This  Prentiss  wants  our  scalp.     We  have  no  objection  to  his  having  it  if  he 


134  PICTURES   OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

can  get  it ;  and  we  will  propose  a  plan  by  which  he  may  become  possessed  of  that 
valuable  article.  It  is  this :  Let  him  select  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  his  best  fight- 
ing men,  or  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  lager-beer  Dutchmen,  and  we  will  select 
one  hundred ;  then  let  both  parties  meet  at  a  given  point,  where  there  wiU  be  no 
interruption  of  the  scalping  business,  and  then  the  longest  pole  will  knock  the 
"persimmon."  If  he  does  not  accept  this  proposal  he  is  a  coward.  We  think  the 
above  proposition  fair  and  equal. 

These  gems  are  from  a  paper  called  The  Crescent^  printed  at  Co- 
lumbus, Ky.,  and  edited  by  ''  Colonel"  L.  G.  Faxon  of  the  "  Ten- 
nessee Tigers,"  a  worthy  and  accomplished  officer  and  gentleman,  no 
doubt. 

In  the  afternoon,  General  Prentiss  was  good  enough  to  drive  me 
round  the  camp  in  company  with  Mr.  Washburne,  member  of  Congress 
from  Illinois,  and  several  officers  and  gentlemen.  Among  them  was 
Mr.  Oglesby,  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  Illinois  volunteers,  and,  as  it 
shows  of  what  material  the  commanding  officers  of  these  regiments,  on 
whose  individual  action  so  much  depends,  are  made,  I  may  be  pardoned 
for  stating  that  this  excellent,  kindly,  and  shrewd  old  man,  who  was 
responsible  for  the  position  and  efficiency  of  1,000  men,  is  one  who 
raised  himself  from  obscurity  to  a  competence  by  the  drudgery  of  a 
lawyer's  office  in  spite  of  a  defective  education,  and  that  he  never  hand- 
led a  company  in  the  field  in  his  life.  Apparently,  he  is  selected  to  be 
a  colonel  because  he  can  make  good,  homely,  telling  speeches  to  his 
men,  and  he  may  think  he  will  be  a  good  officer  just  as  he  may  imagine 
he  is  an  excellent  artilleryman  because  the  first  time  he  ever  laid  and 
fired  a  gun  the  other  day  the  ball  hit  the  tree  at  which  it  was  aimed. 
The  bulk  of  the  troops  are  encamped  in  wooden  sheds,  provided  with 
berths  like  those  in  a  ship,  which  are  disposed  longitudinally,  so  as  to 
afibrd  the  maximum  of  sleeping  room.  These  sheds  run  continuously 
along  the  inward  side  of  the  levees,  the  tops  of  which  are  broad  enough 
to  serve  as  carriage  roads.  They  answer  well  enough  for  temporary 
purposes,  but  would  not  do  for  a  lengthened  residence.  There  can  be 
no  drainage,  as  the  ground  on  which  they  stand  is  below  the  water 
level.  The  parade  is  spacious  and  level  enough — the  bottom  of  a  swamp 
which  the  troops  have  cleared,  cutting  down  trees  and  removing  stumps 
with  great  diligence  and  labor.  Our  drive  extended  up  the  Mississippi 
shore,  past  two  field  guns  in  position  and  some  infantry  tents,  up  to  the 
camp  of  a  company  of  Chicago  light  artiller}^  and  of  Hungarian  and 
German  volunteers,  under  Major  Milotsky.  The  guns  fired  a  salute  on 
the  arrival  of  the  genei-al,  and  the  company  were  drawn  up  to  receive 
him — an  unequally-sized  body  of  men,  most  of  whom,  however,  were 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN  LIFE.  135 

quite  fit  for  any  military  duty.  The  captain,  Mr.  Smith,  is,  I  should 
judge  from  his  accent,  a  Scotchman,  and  he  told  me  the  men  in  his 
company  represented  a  million  and-a-half  of  dollars  in  property.  The 
jruns  of  the  company  (brass  six-pounders),  the  horses  and  equipments 
Avere  clean  and  in  good  order ;  the  firing  was  well-timed.  While  seated 
in  his  tent  several  of  the  privates  came  forward  outside  and  sang  "  The 
Star  Spangled  Banner,"  "  God  Save  the  Queen"  (to  their  own  words), 
and  other  airs  very  pleasingly ;  but  a  severe  reception  awaited  the 
guests  on  going  outside,  for  the  wliole  of  the  company  were  drawn 
up  in  line,  and  they  then  and  there  set  up  a  shouting  for  "  Washburne," 
so  that  the  honorable  member  was  fain  to  comply  and  make  a  speech  ; 
and  then  General  Prentiss  made  a  speech  under  similar  compulsion ; 
and  next  Colonel  Oglesby ;  and  then  your  own  correspondent,  who  has 
had  quite  enough  of  speaking  in  America,  in  his  first  and  last  effort, 
was  forced  to  say  he  could  not  make  a  speech ;  and  after  other  ora- 
tions, in  Avhich  the  audience  were  always  called  "  gentlemen  !"  we  got 
off"  (with  "  three  cheers")  to  the  Hungarians,  who  were  waiting  for  their 
turn — a  fine,  soldierly-looking  set  of  men,  of  whom  our  Kentucky  editor 
writes  as  follows : 

TThen    the    bow-legged,    wooden-shoed,    sourkrout-stinking,    bologne-sausage- 

eating,  hen-roost-robbing  Dutch  sons  of from  Cairo  had  accompHshed  the 

brilliant  feat  of  taking  down  the  Secession  flag  on  the  river  bank,  they  were  pointed 
to  another  flag  of  the  same  sort,  which  was  flying  gloriously  and  defiantly  about 
two  squares  distant  (and  which  their  guns  did  not  cover),  and  defied,  yea,  double- 
big,  black-dog  dared  (as  we  used  to  say  at  school)  to  take  that  flag  down.  The 
cowardly  pups,  the  sheep-dogs,  the  sneaking  skunks  dare  not  do  so,  because  those 
twelve  pieces  of  artillery  were  not  bearing  upon  it.  And  these  are  the  people  who 
are  sent  by  Lincoln  to  "crush  out"  the  South! 

The  oflicer  in  command  put  them  through  light  infantry  drill,  ad- 
vance of  line  of  skirmishers,  charge,  rally,  retreat,  etc.,  all  well  done, 
and  they  marched  back  singing  to  camp  and  gave  three  good  cheers  for 
the  general.  In  our  way  back  the  party  stopped  at  another  camp 
which  was  enlivened  by  the  presence  of  ladies,  Avho  had  come  some 
hundreds  of  miles  to  see  husbands  and  brothers,  and  in  the  evening  the 
usual  parade  took  place  near  the  hotel.  Four  regiments  of  about  seven 
hundred  each  were  on  the  ground,  and  never,  perhaps,  did  any  foi-ce 
only  a  few  weeks  in  the  field  look  more  like  soldiers,  march  more 
steadily  in  line,  or  present  a  better  appearance  in  the  ranks.  When 
drawn  up  in  Hue  the  diff'erence  in  uniform  in  various  companies  struck 
the  eye  as  a  disagreeable  novelty — one  with  white  cross-belts  between 
two  companies  with  black  cross-belts,  for  example ;   but  the  line  of 


136  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

bayonets  was  unwavering  and  uniformly  sloped — all  the  ordinary  work 
of  a  very  ordinary  regimental  parade  was  performed  by  each  with  pre- 
cision and  rapidity,  and  the  men  were  as  fine  fellows  as  could  be  seen 
in  any  infantry  regiments  of  the  line  in  any  part .  of  the  world.  The 
officers,  however,  did  not  seem  very  quick — orders  were  carried  at  a 
trot — the  combined  movements  were  slow,  and  a  little  clubbing  took 
place  in  forming  into  line  from  columns  of  companies  marching  in 
echelon.  Just  as  it  was  dark  there  came  into  camp,  with  a  good  band 
at  their  head,  a  remarkably  stoiit-looking  set  of  fellows,  armed  with 
rifle  and  bayonet,  very  tall,  in  heavy  marching  order,  and  stepping  out 
like  men  who  knew  their  business.  Alas  !  that  it  should  be  so.  But 
these  are  Colonel  Schuttner's  "  Dutchmen,"  as  they  are  called,  who 
have  been  a  little  eccentric  at  Bird's  Point,  going  on  scouting  parties, 
and  making  themselves  generally  active  either  without  or  with  the 
colonel's  sanction,  and  so  they  are  marched  to  camp  as  a  punishment 
for  their  want  of  discipline,  and  their  place  is  taken  by  another  battal- 
ion. I  am  informed  the  conduct  of  the  troops  on  the  whole  has  been 
very  exemplary. 

June  21. — I  visited  the  earthworks  at  the  end  of  the  levee.  Colonel 
AVaagner  was  ill  with  the  usual  camp  diarrhcea,  but  he  would  insist  on 
getting  up  and  showing  me  his  performance.  He  has  fought  in  many 
hard  fields  in  Europe,  served  in  the  Hungarian  war,  and  accompanied 
Kossuth  to  the  United  States.  His  right-hand  man.  Lieutenant  O'Leary, 
was  formerly  a  petty  ofiicer  in  the  British  navy,  served  in  the  Furious 
in  the  Black  Sea,  and  was  in  the  Shannon  Biigade,  under  the  ever-to- 
be-deplored  sailor  who  led  them  to  the  relief  of  Lucknow,  and  finally  to 
the  reduction  of  that  ill-starred  city.  Mr.  O'Leary  told  me  he  was  not 
much  credited  here  when  he  recounted  the  manner  in  which  Sir  William 
Peel  taught  his  sailors  to  toss  about  68-pounders  as  if  they  were  field- 
pieces.  The  work  I  found  to  be  rather  "  crowded"  with  guns,  but  it 
gives  promise  of  such  strength  as  to  enable  the  occupants  to  command 
both  rivers  effectually.  The  armament  is  quite  adequate  to  all  purposes, 
and  consists  of  one  8-inch  howitzer,  two  24-pounders,  two  32-pounders, 
and  some  lighter  guns,  the  v.hole  being  dominated  by  a  10-inch  colum- 
biad  in  the  centre,  on  a  circular  traversing  slide,  not  yet  mounted.  The 
magazine  is  well  made  and  lighted  ;  it  is  the  safest  and  best  I  have  seen 
in  the  States.  The  practice  I  saw  with  a  field-piece  from  the  work,  at 
a  small  target  500  yards  off,  in  order  to  try  ricochet  fire,  was  by  no 
means  bad,  and  would  have  speedily  sunk  a  boat  in  the  line  of  fire. 
Whenever  a  steamer  is  made  out  approaching  Cairo  a  gun  is  fired  from 
one  or  other  of  the  ports.     The  steamer  then  gives  the  private  signal 


PICTURES   OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  137 

agreed  upon,  and  if  she  does  not  answer,  is  fired  upon  and  brought  to 
by  round  shot. 

In  the  evening,  as  I  was  walking  up  and  down  the  levee  after  a  day 
of  exhausting  heat,  an  extraordinary  tumult  attracted  my  attention, 
and  on  running  to  the  hotel,  whence  the  noise  proceeded,  I  discovered 
a  whole  regiment  drawn  up  two  deep  without  arms,  and  shouting 
out  in  chorus,  "  Water  !  water !  water !"  The  officers  were  powerless, 
but  presently  General  Prentiss  came  round  the  corner,  and  mounting  on 
a  railing  proceeded  to  address  the  soldiery  in  energetic  terms,  but  in 
substance  his  remonstrance  would  have  been  considered^  in  a  French  or 
English  army,  as  much  a  breach  of  discipline  as  the  act  it  had  censured. 
These  men  had  broken  out  of  barracks  after  hours,  forced  their  officers 
and  the  sentries,  and  came  np  shouting  to  the  head-quarters  of  their 
general  to  complain  of  a  deficiency  of  water.  The  general  addressed 
them  as  "  gentlemen."  It  was  not  his  fault  they  wanted  water.  It  was 
their  officers  who  were  to  blame,  not  he.  He  would  see  they  had  water, 
and  would  punish  the  contractor,  but  they  must  not  come  disturbing 
him,  by  their  outcries  at  night.  Their  conduct  was  demoralizing  to 
themselves,  and  to  their  comrades.  Having  rated  the  "  gentlemen" 
soundly,  he  ordered  them  back  to  their  quarters.  They  gave  three 
cheers  for  the  general,  and  retired  in  regular  line  of  march  with  their 
officers.  The  fact  was,  that  the  men  on  returning  from  a  hot  and  thirsty 
drill,  found  the  water-barrels,  which  ought  to  have  been  filled  by  the 
contractor,  empty,  and  not  for  the  first  time,  and  so  they  took  the 
quartermaster's  business  into  their  own  hands.  Their  officers  did  not 
wish  to  be  very  strict,  and  why?  The  term  of  the  men's  voluntary  ser- 
vice is  nearly  over,  they  have  not  yet  been  enrolled  for  the  service  of 
the  state  ;  therefore,  if  they  were  aggrieved  they  might  be  disposed  to 
disband,  and  not  renew  their  engagements,  and  so  the  officers  would 
be  left  without  any  regiment  to  offer  to  the  state.  But  they  went  off 
in  an  orderly  manner,  and  General  Prentiss,  though  much  annoyed  by 
the  occurrence,  understands  volunteers  better  than  we  do.  There  is  no 
doubt  but  that  the  quartermasters'  department  is  in  a  bad  condition  in 
both  armies.  Mr.  Forstall  has  proposed  to  the  Southern  authorities  to 
hang  any  contractor  who  may  be  detected  cheating.  There  would  prob- 
ably be  few  contractors  left  if  the  process  were  carried  into  effect  at  the 
North.  The  medical  department  is  better  in  the  Northern  than  in  the 
Southern  armies.  But  even  here  there  is  not  an  ambulance,  a  cacolet,  or 
a  mule  litter.  When  General  Scott  made  his  first  requisition  for  troops 
and  money,  or  rather  when  he  gave  in  his  estimate  of  the  probable  re- 
quirements to  carry  on  the  war,  I  hear  the  ministers  laughed  at  his 


138  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

demands.  They  would  be  very  glad  now  to  condone  for  the  original 
figures.  Little  do  they,  North  or  South,  know  what  war  must  cost  in 
money,  in  life,  in  misery.  Already  they  are  suffering,  but  it  is  but  a 
tithe  of  what  is  to  come,  for  the  life  and  misery  have  not  been  expended 
and  felt.  In  the  Memphis  papers  two  days  ago  I  saw  a  notification  that 
drafts  would  be  issued  by  the  magistrates  to  families  left  in  distress 
by  the  departure  of  their  heads  and  supports  to  the  seat  of  war.  In  the 
Cairo  papers  to-day  I  observe  an  appeal  to  the  authorities  to  do  some- 
thing to  aid  the  citizens  reduced  to  pauperism  by  the  utter  stagnation 

of  trade. 

Saturday,  June  22,  1861. 

The  information  which  Brigadier-Greneral  Prentiss  received,  of  move- 
ments on  the  part  of  the  Missouri  secessionists,  induced  him,  in  pursu- 
ance, I  presume,  of  instructions  from  the  head-quarters  of  his  district, 
or,  possibly,  on  his  own  responsibility,  to  send  out  an  expedition  secretly 
this  afternoon  to  break  up  their  camp,  and  disperse  or  make  them  pris- 
oners. It  is  in  that  sort  of  guerrilla  enterprises  that  much  of  the  time 
and  strength  of  the  federalists  will  be  consumed.  A  good  map  of  the 
States  may  fail  to  show  the  little  village  of  Commerce,  on  the  Mississip- 
l>i,  but  it  is  about  sixteen  miles  east  of  the  town  of  Benton,  and  is  about 
two  hours'  steaming  from  Cairo.  Here  the  Confederates,  or  "  rebels,"  as 
they  are  called  in  my  present  latitude,  have  collected  in  two  or  three 
small  camps,  in  numbers  to  which  report  adds  and  deducts  ciphers  at 
pleasure.  But  General  Prentiss  does  not  think  they  can  be  over  a  few 
hundred  men,  judging  from  the  force  he  sent  against  them.  It  is  sup- 
posed these  bands  are  the  debris  of  Governor  Jackson's  followers,  who 
have  been  encouraged  by  promises  of  support  from  Memphis,  to  assem- 
ble as  rallying  centres  for  the  secessionists  of  Missouri,  who  would,  no 
doubt,  collect  in  considerable  numbers  if  they  were  permitted,  and 
would  summon  their  defeated  governor,  now  an  exile  in  Arkansas,  to 
their  head.  But  the  position  they  occupy  is  very  important  in  a  strat- 
egical sense,  as  it  commands  the  Mississippi  above  Cairo,  and  if  they 
succeeded  in  getting  a  few  guns,  they  could  stop  the  navigation  of  the 
river,  and  cause  serious  embarrassment  to  the  right  flank  and  rear  of  the 
federalists  posted  on  the  junction  of  that  river  with  the  Ohio,  as  well  as 
neutralizing  the  work  at  Bird's  Point.  In  despite  of  their  great  violence 
of  speech,  the  secessionists,  like  other  men  in  most  parts  of  the  world, 
abate  their  rage  in  the  presence  of  armed  force — inter  arma  silent;  and 
the  process  which  is  going  on  in  Missouri  may  be  equally  successfid  if 
it  can  be  applied  elsewhere.  Any  way,  the  results  must  show  the  gov- 
ernment at  Washington,  that  if  they  could  have  acted  on  the  same  prin- 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  139 

ciples  elsewhere  they  would  now  be  in  a  very  different  position.  The 
outcry  which  would  have  been  raised  against  them  could  not  be  louder 
or  stronger  than  it  is  at  present.  Why,  Cairo  itself  was  a  centre  of  disaffec- 
tion and  secession  till  the  Illinois  volunteers  occupied  it  militarily  with 
artillery  and  a  strong  force  of  infantry!  For  days  they  were  threatened 
with  an  attack,  and  were  subjected  to  abuse  and  insults.  All  that  has 
died  away,  and  outwardly,  at  least,  Cairo  is  Unionist,  although  South- 
ern Illinois  is  by  no  means  of  the  same  mind,  and  General  Prentiss 
finds  it  necessary  to  station  troops  along  the  railroad,  at  the  bridges, 
to  prevent  any  playful  pranks  in  sawing  the  timbers  or  setting  them 
on  lire. 

It  was  nearly  dusk  before  the  expedition  started.  It  consisted  of 
about  seven  hundi'ed  men  and  one  six-pounder  field-piece,  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Morgan,  an  officer  who  saw  service  during  the 
Mexican  war,  and  who  has  the  reputation — I  should  think  well-deserved 
— of  being  a  skilfnl,  brave,  and  prudent  officer.  I  saw  the  companies 
paraded,  and  I  must  say  their  appearance  was  most  creditable  to 
the  officers  and  the  men  themselves.  Making  allowance  for  diversity 
of  arms  and  uniform,  company  by  company,  they  were  well  set  up, 
stout,  powerful,  infantrj'^-looking,  cheerful,  and  full  of  confidence,  and 
among  them  were  many  old  soldiers,  particularly  Germans  and  Hunga- 
rians. The  field-pieces  were  very  well  horsed,  probably  provided  with 
tumbril,  spare  wheel,  and  a  full  compliment  of  well-equipped  gunners. 
As  they  marched  on  board  the  huge  river  steamer — a  Pelion  of  light 
carpentry  on  an  Ossa  of  engines  and  boilers — the  men  cheered  in  the 
old  English  style,  and  gave  three  thundering  "hurrahs"  as  the  steamer 
backed  out  and  set  her  bow  against  the  stream.  But  now  comes  what 
seemed  to  me  a  little  of  the  recklessness  and  want  of  foresight,  or,  at 
least,  of  precaution,  which  has  been  evident  in  more  than  one  of  the 
federalist  expeditions,  with  the  usual  consequences  of  disaster  and  loss. 
These  men  and  horses  and  the  gun  were  put  on  board  this  big  tinder- 
box,  all  fire  and  touchwood.  One  small  boat,  capable  of  carrying  a 
dozen  men  at  most,  hung  at  her  stern.  Imagine  an  explosion,  and  her 
engines  are  high-pressure ;  a  shot  from  a  masked  gun  into  her  boiler, 
and  her  boilers  are  exposed;  even  heavy  musketry  fire  opened  suddenly 
from  the  wooden  bank  on  the  beehive-like-  deck,  where  the  solitar}^  gun 
could  scarcely  be  worked,  and  the  men  could  not  be  landed,  and  see 
what  a  catastrophe  might  ensue.  To  use  a  homely  simile,  there  were 
"  too  many  eggs  in  one  basket."  And  there  was  no  necessity  for  doing 
this,  inasmuch  as  many  steamers  lay  at  the  disposal  of  the  authorities, 
and  the  steamer  could  easily  have  towed  up  flats  or  boats  for  the  giin 


140  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE. 

and  men.  A  handful  of  horsemen  would  have  been  admirable  to  move 
in  advance,  feel  the  covers,  and  make  prisoners  for  political  or  other 
purposes  in  case  of  flight ;  but  the  Americans  persist  in  ignoring  the 
use  of  horsemen,  or  at  least  in  depreciating  it,  though  they  will  at  last 
find  that  they  may  shed  much  blood,  and  lose  much  more,  before  they 
can  gain  a  great  victory  without  the  aid  of  artillery  and  chai-ges  after 
the  retreating  enemy.  From  the  want  of  cavalry,  I  suppose  it  is,  the 
unmilitary  practice  of  "  scouting,"  as  it  is  called  here,  has  arisen.  It  is 
all  very  well  in  the  days  of  Indian  wars  for  footmen  to  creep  about  in 
the  bushes  and  shoot  or  be  shot  by  sentries  and  pickets ;  but  no  civi- 
lized war,  if  there  be  such  a  thing  at  all  in  civil  conflicts,  recognizes  such 
means  of  annoyance  as  firing  upon  sentinels,  unless  in  case  of  an  actual 
advance  or  feigned  attack  on  the  line.  No  camp  can  be  safe  without 
cavalry  videttes  and  pickets,  for  the  enemy  can  pour  in  impetuously  after 
the  alarm  has  been  given,  as  fast  as  the  outlying  footmen  can  run  in. 
In  feeling  the  way  for  a  column,  cavalry  are  invaluable,  and  there  can  be 
little  chance  of  ambuscades  or  surprises  where  they  are  judiciously  em- 
ployed ;  but  "  scouting"  on  foot,  or  adventurous  private  expeditions  on 
horseback,  to  have  a  look  at  the  enemy,  can  do,  and  will  do,  nothing 
but  harm.  Every  day  the  papers  contain  accounts  of  "  scouts"  being 
killed,  and  sentries  being  picked  off".  The  latter  is  a  very  barbarous  and 
savage  practice ;  and  the  Russian,  in  his  most  angry  moments,  abstained 
from  it.  If  any  officer  wishes  to  obtain  information  as  to  his  enemy, 
he  has  two  ways  of  d  oing  it.  He  can  employ  spies,  who  carry  their 
lives  in  their  hands,  or  he  can  beat  up  their  quarters  by  a  proper  recon- 
noissance  on  his  own  responsibility,  in  which,  however,  it  would  be  ad- 
visable not  to  trust  his  force  to  a  railway  train.  In  talking  to  General 
Prentiss,  this  evening,  I  was  informed  that  the  enemies'  spies  visit  Cairo 
every  day.  Strict  precautions  are  used  to  prevent  access  to  the  camps 
— a  close  chain  of  sentries  is  posted  all  around,  and  in  the  day  a  pass  is 
necessary  for  admittance,  unless  one  belongs  to  the  force,  and  at  night 
no  one  is  admitted  without  the  countersign.  An  Irish  gentleman,  who 
had  been  evincing  his  satisfaction  at  the  receipt  of  his  wages  more  H'lber- 
nico^  just  now  attempted  to  get  past  us — "Who  goes  there?"  "A 
friend — shiire  you  know  I'm  a  friend!"  "Advance  three  paces  and 
give  the  countersign."  The  gentleman  approached,  but  was  brought 
up  by  the  bayonet.  "  Send  for  the  captain,  and  he'll  give  you  the  word 
bedad."  The  intercession  was  unnecessary,  for  two  policemen  came  up 
in  hot  pursuit,  and  the  general,  who  was  sitting  by,  ordered  the  guard 
to  deliver  their  prisoner  to  the  civil  power.  For  some  extraordinary 
reason  this  act  moved  the  prisoner  to  the  greatest  gratitude,  and,  taking 


PICTUEES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  141 

off  his  cap,  lie  exclaimed,  "  Tliank  you,  general ;  long  life  to  you.  In- 
deed, general,  I'm  greatly  obliged  to  you  on  this  account."  Another 
sentry  who  challenged  an  officer  in  the  usual  way,  was  asked  by  him, 
"Do  you  know  the  countersign  yourself?"  "Indeed  I  don't,  sir;  it's 
not  nine  o'clock,  and  they  havn't  given  it  out  yet."  A  very  tolerable 
military  band  played  outside  the  hotel  in  the  evening,  and  I  was  pleased 
to  see  the  quiet  manner  in  which  the  bystanders,  of  all  ranks,  sat  down 
in  the  chairs  as  they  were  vacant,  close  to  the  general,  without  any 
intrusion  or  any  sense  of  impropriety  arising  from  their  difference  in 
rank. 

June  22. — The  expedition  had  not  returned  at  four  this  evening 
when  I  started  in  the  train  for  Chicago.  I  bade  General  Prentiss  and 
the  officers  of  his  staff  good-by,  and  I  doubt  not,  if  the  brigade  is  en- 
rolled in  the  United  States  army  it  will  do  good  service.  At  the  pres- 
ent moment  these  officers  are  without  pay,  and  they  make  a  joke  of 
their  empty  pockets  ;  but  it  is  one  of  those  jokes  w^hich  spoil  by  itera- 
tion. I  saw  more  of  Cairo  from  the  windows  of  the  carriage  than  it 
was  my  lot  to  behold  during  my  stay  in  the  place.  The  rail  is  laid  on 
the  levee,  and  I  looked  down  on  a  flat  land,  which  would  become  a 
swamp  if  Ohio  and  Mississippi  were  not  kept  out  assiduously,  dotted 
with  wooden  houses,  a  church  or  two,  and  some  poor  shanties,  in  won- 
der that  people  could  live  in  it  on  any  food  but  quinine.  The  lower 
story  of  the  houses  built  along  the  levee  must  be  below  water  level, 
and  proper  drainage  cannot  be  effected.  A  short  way  outside  the 
"  city"  there  is,  indeed,  a  veritable  swamp,  out  of  which  a  forest  of 
dead  trees  wave  their  ghastly  leafless  arms.  But  Cairo  is  to  be  a  great 
place  when  all  the  land  between  the  two  rivers  is  filled  up,  and  raised 
above  inundation. 

Mound  City,  the  first  station,  is  occupied  by  an  outpost  or  small 
camp.  It  consists  of  several  log-huts,  some  tumbling  rotten  wood 
hovels,  and  a  fine  growth  of  trees — white  oak,  &c.  Land  here  is 
to  be  had  at  $10  to  $25  an  acre.  Better  land  lay  further  on,  and 
through  fields  and  cleared  ground,  where  the  "army  worm,"  how- 
ever— not  a  soldier,  but  an  insect  of  that  name — had  been  at  work — 
we  passed  on  to  Jonesborough,  a  large  village  of  houses  and  stores, 
with  an  "  eating  and  drinking  saloon  ;"  and  next  came  to  Cobden, 
named  after  one  who  is  better  known  than  the  Jones  who  founded  the 
former  settlement.  The  name  of  the  great  political  economist  and  re- 
former has  not  worked  a  spell  upon  the  place,  for  it  has  more  drinking 
saloons  than  manufactories,  and  the  houses — vote  and  all — would  not 
be  thought  much  of  even  by  a  Dorsetshire  peasant.     The  inhabitants 


142  PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN    LIFE. 

of  Cobden  are  to  be  counted  by  the  dozen  rather  than  by  the  hundred. 
It  may  be  "  great  hereafter."  Carbondale,  still  further  on,  is  a  more 
flourishing  looking  and  larger  village,  and  it  possesses  a  "bank,"  which 
does  its  business  in  a  small  wooden  house  resplendent  with  the  names 
of  "  cashier"  and  "  president,"  painted  on  a  sign-board.  In  spite  of 
the  name  there  is  no  coal  here,  but  a  large  field  of  bituminous  deposit, 
good  for  domestic  purposes,  crops  out  in  the  prairie  at  a  nice  little 
place  called  Dugoyne,  some  miles  further  on,  and  is  sold  at  the  pit's 
mouth  for  $1  25,  or  about  55.  2c?.,  a  ton.  Here,  out  of  compliment  to 
Cairo,  perhaps,  is  a  store  rejoicing  in  the  style  and  title  of  "  The  Com- 
mercial Emporium  of  Egypt,"  and,  in  keeping  with  the  primiftive 
habits  of  the  people,  there  was  an  announcement  on  the  boards  that 
the  terms  were  "  cash  or  produce." 

June  23. — A  large-bodied  Yorkshire  man,  who  had  a  full  share  of 
most  of  the  attributes  of  his  shire  folk,  in  the  sei-vice  of  the  land  de- 
partment of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  gave  me  all  the  information 
necessary  about  the  country.  He  was  called  "  major"  by  his  intimates, 
and,  said  he,  with  a  wink,  "Once  I  was  a  major,  but,  unfortunately, 
there  was  a  w^ord  before  it — I  was  troop  sergeant-major  in  the  Queen's 
Bays."  He  pointed  out-  the  fat  pkces  where  "  we  put  our  English- 
men" when  they  come  to  settle  on  the  prairie  lands  on  which  we  were 
just  entering  as  morning  broke,  and  seemed  hopeful  of  a  grand  future 
for  the  vast  plains,  which  only  stand  in  need  of  a  little  wood  to  render 
them  fit  for  the  reception  of  despairing  agriculturists  when  the  war 
fever  is  over.  How  pleasant  it  was  to  see  white  faces  in  the  fields,  to 
gaze  on  the  waving  corn,  and  on  the  martial  rows  of  wheat-sheafs !  to 
behold  the  villages  and  the  Christian  spires  rising  in  the  distance ;  to 
observe,  as  it  were,  under  one's  eyes,  the  growth  of  civilized  communi- 
ties ;  the  village  swelling  into  the  town,  and  the  town  grasping  the 
dimensions  of  a  city. 

And  how  wonderful  has  been  the  work  of  the  rail ;  in  a  night  it 
has  spanned  the  interval  between  war  and  peace,  between  swamp 
and  harvest-fields,  between  sedition  and  contentment.  Last  night 
we  travelled  through  lines  of  outposts,  over  danger-haunted  bridges, 
by  camps  where  the  soldiers  watched  eagerly  for  their  supply  of 
bread,  and  cheered  lustily  as  it  was  delivered  to  them  from  the  train, 
for  without  its  aid  they  could  get  none.  This  morning  Union  flags 
floated  from  the  little  stations.  Corn  is  abundant.  The  vast  plains 
are  rich  with  crops,  or  are  ready  to  yield  to  the  tilth.  A  city  worthy 
of  such  a  name  rises  above  the  waters  of  the  sea-like  lake  whose  waves 
roll  from  the  boundless  horizon  in  crisping  foam  on  the  smooth  sandy 


PICTURES    OF    SOUTHERN   LIFE.  143 

beach.  The  pure  clear  air  invigorates  the  frame,  weakened  by  the 
warm  clammy  breath  of  the  South.  The  notes  of  the  mocking-bird 
are  heard  no  more,  but  the  prairie  hen  gets  up  with  a  sharp  whirr  from 
the  roadside,  and  drops  with  her  brood  into  the  deep,  flowering  clover ; 
the  partridge  calls  from  the  stubble,  and  instead  of  the  foul  turkey- 
buzzard  and  his  lazy  wheels,  swoops  the  gray  falcon  over  the  broad 
meadow  in  rapid  curves.  Chicago  receives  us,  and  comfort,  cleanli- 
ness, quiet,  good  meat,  butter  and  bread — of  which,  indeed,  we  had 
a  foretaste  at  the  refreshment  rooms  at  Centralia,  where  I  took  tea 
last  night — assure  the  traveller  that  he  is  not  the  inmate  of  a  Southern 
hotel. 


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LIBRARY  OF  CONGRESS 


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